The Prince George Chamber of Commerce is calling on candidates in the 2011 municipal election to meet the needs of business owners.
A survey of 118 local businesses done in August showed 17.6 per cent of business owners found the city's reputation to be one of the biggest challenges to expanding business. A further 15.9 per cent cited attracting skilled workers as their top challenge.
"Municipal candidates should take note that there was a direct connection between improving local aesthetics, infrastructure and roads... [to] business's ability to attract qualified employees to Prince George," chamber president Guarav Parmar said in a written statement. "We heard loud and clear that the negative image of Prince George was a challenge in filling labour needs and that this challenge restricts Prince George from approaching the infinite horizons that our city has in its future."
By comparison, only 11.5 per cent listed regulations and red tape at City Hall to be their top concern, while seven per cent put municipal property taxes at the top of their list of concerns.
Chamber members surveyed said they wanted to see reductions on business taxes, controlling spending and making sure, "Prince George is open for business," Parmar added.
Road maintenance, downtown development, infrastructure, education, parks and recreation and supporting arts and culture also received mentions from the businesses surveyed, he said.
Some of the survey respondents' comments from the survey focused on the perception of Prince George outside the city.
"Prince George is still viewed by many external clients of mine as a wasteland - rife with crime and an ugly downtown," one business owner wrote.
Another commented that communities like Kamloops have invested substantially more in their infrastructure and are now benefiting from increased private sector investment.
Others argued for less spending and a focus on being competitive.
"Recent tax increases have forced our business to increase revenues just to pay for the additional taxes far beyond what should be acceptable for year-over-year increases," one business owner wrote. "City spending is way out of line with relation to new tax base development - meaning that existing businesses need to pay the difference, which is inexcusable."
