Initiatives Prince George is delivering good service for the money according to a service review conducted on the economic development agency.
However, PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant Janice Plumstead said the organization does have areas it still needs to work on.
"The current IPG governance model is working well, except for appropriate communication," Plumstead said.
Less than half of 53 city officials, business leaders and other stakeholders surveyed agreed that Initiatives Prince George's performance tracking systems were effective, she said. In her report, Plumstead said the city should consider including reporting requirements in its service agreement.
"What's missing for me... is how many businesses were contacted? How many projects are they working on? Without having to divulge confidential information, just on a very high level... provide some of that information that people are looking for," Plumstead said. "The city has said to Initiatives Prince George,'Here is responsibility for economic development, go do it.' There is no real expectations."
In addition to consulting with local stakeholders, Plumstead compared Initiatives Prince George to economic development agencies in other nine other cities across Canada.
IPG's spending on marketing was higher on average than other agencies, Plumstead said.
The agency also generated 30 per cent more revenue from rental income, provincial and federal grants and other, non-city sources, than comparable agencies, she said.
The average number of employees among similiar-size agencies was nine, compared to seven at IPG, she said. And payroll spending was 38 per cent of total spending at IPG, compared to an average 43 per cent among the compared agencies.
"Each community is different and each economic development agencies is different," Plumstead said. "[But] in summary of our findings, we find that IPG provides good value for money."
The other recommendations made by the review focused on a need for increased business retention services, something that the agency is already moving to do, IPG chairperson Glen Wonders said.
"The business retention piece is new to us. We're just embarking on that task," Wonders said. "We're very pleased with the results of the review. It not only supports the model, but how we're doing the job. I'd say we're at an A- or a B+."
City council voted to pass the recommendations on to the city's finance and audit committee for further discussion. A full copy of the report is available online at princegeorge.ca.
