When council gets together to formally vote on the 2013 tax rates, they will do so having gone through a far more streamlined process than in years past.
An average residential tax rate rise in line with the overall budget increase of 3.5 per cent was approved by the mayor and majority of councillors meeting as committee of the whole Monday night.
Coun. Albert Koehler, who was affirming to his desire for the increase to be more in line with the rate of inflation, did not support the recommendation.
"I want to stick to what I said before, I'm not a flip flopper," he said.
But the requisition increase was already approved in February, and now it's merely a matter of deciding how that $83.5 million is going to be borne by ratepayers.
"We've baked the pie, now we have to chop it up," said Mayor Shari Green.
The committee deliberated three options to send forward for council approval before the May 15 deadline, two of which would have raised the property tax on homes by 3.4 per cent.
Under the option going forward, the major industrial tax rate will decrease by 1.89 per cent, the light industrial, business and farm tax rates will decrease by 4.64 per cent and the utility rate will decrease by 2.61 per cent.
Pending council approval, the tax rates per $1,000 of assessed value are:
n Residential: $7.94 ($7.80 in 2012)
n Utility: $40 ($41.07 in 2012)
n Major industry: $46 ($46.88 in 2012)
n Light industry: $25.19 ($26.42 in 2012)
n Business: $15.66 ($16.42 in 2012)
Green stressed that despite decreasing the tax rates for all the other property classes aside from residential, it doesn't mean all the others will pay less tax.
According to the report from finance and audit committee chair Coun. Cameron Stolz, assessment roll values in Prince George have increased by more than 4.6 per cent from last year.
And depending on whether someone's 2013 assessment went up or down, that could mean a variety of effects on their tax bill.
"There's such a huge range of impact that it wouldn't matter what we pick, it wouldn't matter what class you're in," said Green. "We're going to have some people that are super happy and we're going to have some people that are freaking out because there's going to be something they didn't see coming because of the wild difference in their property assessment, which is the piece that's out of our hands."
Part of what is in the city's hands is their financial policy, part of which currently states that the major industry tax rate has to come down to meet the provincial average for the class over a 10-year period. In 2012, the provincial average rate was $36.87.
Stolz said the finance and audit committee will be revisiting the policy over the summer.
The presentation of a handful of tax rate options to committee of the whole prior to bringing them to council is working to avoid issues in the past where the politicians were inundated with a long list and expected to pick one in less time.
In 2010, the finance and audit committee presented 11 possible choices to council. In 2011, they had to sift through 15 and ended up making a last-minute decision to change their pick with only a few days before the provincial deadline.
"This looks reasonable," said Coun. Garth Frizzell.
