After months of crunching numbers and plugging in data-sets, the board at the regional district table passed the 2016 operating budget without a single word of debate on Thursday.
The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George will have an operating plan based on $42.8 million in anticipated expenditures this coming fiscal year, which is an increase of $6.5 million over last year's budget.
Of the $42.8 million, $18 million will be funded through property taxation, which is an increase of $500,000 over 2015. Most of the other funding for the budget increase for 2016 is coming in the form of grants and use of reserve funds.
Regional district chair Art Kaehn said the 2016 budget is a reflection of some significant capital projects and purchases including the Foothills Boulevard Regional Landfill entrance relocation project, Mackenzie Regional Landfill conversion to transfer station, and vehicle purchases for volunteer fire departments.
"We are excited to move forward on some big projects that will improve quality of life for residents in our region without a significant impact on taxation," said Kaehn.
The tax bill will be spread among the seven rural electoral districts and four municipalities (Prince George, McBride, Valemount, Mackenzie) that form the RDFFG land base.
The amount the individual household bill will be affected depends on a combination of things including personal property assessment value, the grouped value of the electoral region's assessments, the services received in each area and the amount of cost-sharing on certain services between neighbouring electoral areas.
The average increase in assessed values across the area was just over five per cent, but since that is only one part of the final calculation on a household tax bill, that doesn't mean a five per cent jump in taxes.
Some households will actually pay less than last year and some will pay more, but only by a slim amount.
Significant 2016 budgeted expenditures provided by the RDFFG include solid waste management ($19.3 million); 911 emergency response services ($3.5 million); protective services ($5.2 million), and recreation and cultural services ($3.1 million).
According to the latest calculations, regional district taxes per $100,000 of residential assessment decreased in nearly every electoral area and municipality for 2016.
In Prince George, the taxes decreased 2.4 per cent to $58.97 per $100,000 residential assessment.
In McBride, the taxes went from $431.76 per $100,000 residential assessment in 2015 to $394.15 in 2016 (8.7 per cent decrease).
Valemount will see a 4.1 per cent decrease this year at $301.59.
Electoral Area H (Robson Valley-Canoe) is the only area with a small increase moving to $141.38, an increase of $1.49 or one per cent.
