The current city council made some of its last major decisions Wednesday as they closed the book on the 2015 budget.
The mayor and eight councillors made no changes to the staff-proposed $186,367,000 operating budget, which includes a 2.5 per cent increase to the tax levy over the 2014 financial plan.
Even though it's still an increase, it's one of the lowest taxpayers will have seen in a decade, said Mayor Shari Green. "There are rising costs everywhere that are unavoidable," she said.
Of that 2.5 per cent, 1.92 per cent is an increase to maintain core service levels and funding for contractual requirements. The remaining 0.58 per cent is an increase to the snow control levy.
The 2014 budget also featured a 2.5 per cent tax levy increase, which is the lowest since a 2.46 per cent increase in 2003.
"We have fully funded some of our core key infrastructure and a few years ago there was no plan to get to fully funded. It was just spend, spend spend," said Green. "And this council, for however people may feel it has performed, it has been unanimous on the vast majority of issues that have come before it."
That included raising water and sewer utility rates and funding the annual paving budget to the tune of $7 million.
Green raised last year's narrow 5-4 decision to keep the city-owned Pine Valley golf course as an example of an area where council wasn't ready to stop spending.
"Had that facility been closed and sold and opportunity presented with those dollars we might not have been wringing our hands over some of these safety items [Wednesday] night," Green said. "But that's hindsight. We move forward with the decision we've made and I respect the decisions of council - they're going to have to find other ways to fund these needs."
Those needs feature prominently in the city's 2015 capital spending plan, which features a list of nearly $37 million in projects with funding behind them for next year and another $13 million with no financial backing.
Attempts to find some wiggle room in the city's capital budget were met with resistance from either from administration or fellow councillors.
"What would we have to do to change the capital budget to end up with [a tax levy increase of] 1.38 [per cent]?" asked Coun. Albert Koehler.
The answer was to eliminate roughly $581,000 in spending.
"The capital plan, in fact the entire provisional plan has been presented to council as a 2.5 per cent increase," said financial planning manager Kris Dalio. "If council wishes to decrease that number they would have to direct us as to what they want to see changed."
Koehler, who in August and before the budget process began in 2013 attempted to have the tax levy increase limited to 1.5 per cent, put forward an unsuccessful motion to direct staff to find those savings.
"We are raking in another $3.5 million internally due to fees and user fees and what have you. I'm talking about fair taxes and if we add another what we have on the books for 2.5 per cent, well there's only one taxpayer and they all have to pay for this. So we have to be fair," Koehler said. "We can't solve all problems right now. We can't solve all infrastructure problems right now. Prince George is not collapsing, it's an infrastructure maintenance backlog."
Staff go through a process that starts on the departmental and divisional level to create the capital plan, corporate services director Kathleen Soltis said. That input is scored and ranked and pored over again by senior management before it comes to the council table.
"There's certainly nothing that I think my colleagues and I would see as being something that should not be on the funded list, but we certainly welcome council's comments and will take them into consideration," said Soltis.
Koehler's council colleagues weren't keen on kicking the work back to staff, and the motion was defeated 6-2.
Taking the development of a new park behind the Wood Innovation and Design Centre off the list was discouraged because of commitments to the B.C. government.
"We have an agreement with the provincial government to develop that park in a certain timeframe," said planning director Ian Wells. Of the project's $750,000 budget, $330,000 is funded by the province.
Coun. Dave Wilbur questioned whether it was necessary to move ahead with trail development next year - which is a $250,000 project funded by federal gas tax money - or the reinforcement of Foothill Bridge - a $480,000 project coming out of reserves.
The trail project was identified in 2008 and is part of a multi-year funding commitment, said city manager Beth James, while public works director Bill Gaal noted the reinforcement of four girders on the bridge was a safety issue.
