Local government leaders aren't taking too kindly to a recent study claiming municipalities are living outside their means.
A report released Wednesday by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business suggests municipal spending is outstripping population growth across the country.
The study is mainly focused on Canada's largest cities - Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary - and says that over the past 12 years, spending has grown more than three times the rate of population.
"Municipal officials claim they lack sufficient revenue, and argue that cities need even more revenue and increased taxing authority. Our report shows the real problem is overspending," said CFIB executive vice president Laura Jones.
But the way cities are funded is unfair and unsustainable, said Federation of Canadian Municipalities president Karen Leibovici. "The CFIB should stop trying to change the topic and face facts: local governments don't have the tools to build the kind of communities Canada needs to thrive in the 21st century."
The report also looks at spending nationwide over an 11-year period.
"From 2000 to 2011, city staff in all Canadian municipalities increased by 25 per cent, more than double population growth," said Mike Klassen, CFIB's B.C. director of provincial affairs. "Combine that with wages and benefit packages that are more than one-third higher than comparable occupations in the private sector, and you can begin to understand the causes of overspending by our cities."
CFIB, an association of small and medium-sized businesses, are calling for local government leaders to change the conversation away from "the persistent requests for new tax revenues" and move towards "one that addresses spending challenges," said Jones.
According to Mayor Shari Green, that conversation is already happening in Prince George.
"Council and the City of Prince George are committed to ensuring fiscal sustainability and our core services review process has begun an awareness of the need for continuous operational review that ensures the city can provide the best value to the taxpayer," she said.
Green is in Vancouver for the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference, which runs until Monday.
Leibovici said CFIB should "start with the facts" if it wants a conversation about municipal spending - beginning with the fact that municipalities receive only eight cents from every tax dollar collected but are responsible for 60 per cent of the country's infrastructure.
"The fastest growing costs for property taxpayers are in areas where other orders of government have downloaded unwanted responsibilities onto municipalities," she said. "When other governments offload these costs, local governments have no choice but to pick up the tab, pull police off the street, or delay vital road, bridge and watermain repairs."
