An estimated $12.3 million of savings is still up in the air as the city continues to work through the list of opportunities raised in the core services review last year.
Of the 40 ideas mulled over by council since KPMG submitted its final report last September, 18 have been passed on to city staff for further exploration or implementation.
"There's lots of work that we did send off to staff earlier in the year through our committee of the whole and council to get some work done and staff is pulling all that together," said Mayor Shari Green. "They'll be bringing that back to us very soon, we hope, and we will of course have those discussions in an open meeting of council other than our land issues and our labour issues that we know have to be done in closed (meetings)."
Some of those confidential meetings will centre on land sale opportunities KPMG identified as already in progress.
The consultants saw a potential 6.6 million in selling off University Heights single family lots, the RCMP parking lot, the tennis courts off Highway 16 and the continued development of the Wood Innovation Design Centre.
Another $1.3 million could be realized, said KPMG, through selling the 10 acres of North Nechako land the city owns, the surface and above-ground parking lots downtown, finding an alternate location for Studio 2880 and selling that land and selling the area at Dominion Street and Sixth Avenue for UNBC residences.
A selection of other recommendations could have a direct impact on those who use various city amenities.
n Consider increasing the cost of ice time: The consultants put a high estimate of $930,000 on the table by raising the price of ice time to recover more of the operational costs. Council is waiting on the return of a bylaw to align the Prince George adult rates with those in Kamloops. Currently, the local adult non-commercial rate for prime ice time is $159.88, compared to $168.60 in Kamloops.
n Consider revising user fees and rates for sports fields and parks: Administration has also been directed to return a bylaw with increased adult fees and rates for sports fields and parks, also matching Kamloops, for which the consultants forecast a potential $200,000.
n Stop maintaining excess tennis courts or convert into other community facilities: KPMG foresaw a potential $10,000 here and council was interested in finding out more. "I'm not sure that we have excess tennis courts," said Green during the committee of the whole meeting. "This would be a time to get a bit of an update."
n Consider finding a third party operator for the Four Seasons Pool: A potential $500,000 saving was highlighted in getting someone else to run the aquatic facility. "We know it's not a money-making venture," said Coun. Lyn Hall, and council eventually agreed to find out if there's some way the yearly hit the city takes on the pool could be reduced.
n Consider finding a third party operator for the Civic Centre: Another maximum of $500,000 was also identified by locating an outside source to take the Civic Centre off the city's hands. "We don't know what we don't know," Coun. Albert Koehler said during the Nov. 12, 2012 committee of the whole discussion.
n Shut off chemical fluoride system: KPMG saw a potential for $50,000 in savings by stopping the decades-long process of fluoridating the city's water and instead providing drops to people who require it. The matter will go before the public in 2014 as a referendum question on the next municipal election ballot.
A few of the opportunities passed along are things that won't be immediately noticeable to the public eye.
n Establish planning fees: The city is looking at the potential $25,000 to be recouped by adding a price tag to some of the optional services planning department staff perform over and above their regular duties.
n Collection of unpaid property taxes: The consultants identified a potential $50,000 and council directed staff to research collecting unpaid property taxes on mobile homes and seizing them if required.
n Move more customer service transactions to the Internet: KPMG saw a potential $20,000 here and corporate services director Kathleen Soltis said there are some things that can already be done online, such as paying property taxes, but more education for the public would be necessary.
n Re-engineer police report writing: Changing the way the local RCMP handle their report writing and administrative duties could produce an extra $500,000, according to KPMG. Council is still awaiting staff and RCMP input on how this could work to allow more time to focus on crime reduction.
n Change road cut fees: Increasing fees to take into account the age of the road surface could yield up to $100,000, according to KPMG estimates. Administration is working on a bylaw to reflect this.
n Mesh 911 and fire dispatch calls: KPMG saw a potential $100,000 in the city teaming up the the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George to integrate their 911 call handling with fire dispatch. Coun. Cameron Stolz called this idea an "automatic win."
n Further study of fees and revenue sources: The consultants believed the city could potentially find another $1.4 million by reviewing their rates and council agreed to carry on.
There is another group of ideas being explored that didn't have a potential price tag attached. These included reforming the customer service centre as a one-stop-shop for all administrative services, finding ways to save money by collaborating with the regional district.
