A missed population projection and over expansion during the 1970’s population boom has led to infrastructure concerns in Prince George.
The City was projected to be at 250,000 residents by this year, but Wednesday’s budget town hall meeting at the Conference and Civic Centre showed it’s coming at the cost of infrastructure repairs.
Director of Finance and IT Services Kris Dalio says the infrastructure built at the same time usually has a 50 year life span.
“A lot of that spiked infrastructure that we built in a hurry in the 70’s is all starting to come due at the same time.” says Dalio.
“That’s why we have things like a sustainable finance policy that Council started, adding 1 percent to the tax levy each year just to allow for the investment of our existing infrastructure.”
If the City were to try and replace everything, it would total around $4.4 billion.
Dalio says there’s also the human resource component, which they’re working on managing the balance of addressing as much of the infrastructure as possible, with the financial and human resources required to do it.
The City will continue to look at what the highest risk infrastructure is, and what needs to be replaced in the immediate future.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
