Cutting costs at City Hall was front and centre at the final all-candidates forum before the municipal election.
On Monday night the Prince George Construction Association and Canadian Home Builders Association of Northern B.C. hosted the candidates for mayor and city council. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses' recent report on municipal spending in B.C. was the focus of several questions to the candidates.
Mayor Dan Rogers defended the current council's record on controlling spending. The report, which ranked spending growth compared to population growth and inflation, placed Prince George ninth out of 25 B.C. municipalities with 25,000 people or more. In 2010, the city topped the list for spending beyond population growth and inflation.
"We've dropped because we've paid attention to your finances," Roger said. "We've dropped because we've made smart land use decisions. [And] our spending is well below any winter city in Alberta."
The city and current council have made progress on controlling spending, while continuing to invest in projects like the downtown district energy system, he said.
Coun. Shari Green, who is currently running for mayor, said some costs are out of the city's control. However, she said, tough decisions will have to be made to control costs.
"It takes political will around the table. At this time you need to elect a mayor and council that are going to ask the tough questions," Green said.
Green said the city needs to find efficiencies without impacting core services, and aggressively promote growth.
Increasing taxes by four per cent next year - still less than the 5.1 per cent needed to maintain existing service levels - is too much, she said.
Coun. Murry Krause, who currently chairs the city's finance and audit committee, said cutting back non-core services would do more harm to the community than good.
"I don't believe we need to cut out the frills. We need some frills in our lives and I would not like to see them all cut," Krause said. "It's important that we don't just make cuts anywhere - we have to know what those cuts mean."
Council candidate Lyn Hall said there are few services in the community which are not a core service to someone.
"It's roads, it's snow removal ... it's things we need as a community to function," Hall said. "I don't think we're an over-frilled community."
Council candidate Frank Everitt said the city has to plan to meet its own infrastructure needs.
The city can't wait for the "magic day", he said, when some other government or agency is going to fund the city's infrastructure needs. However, he said, there may be efficiencies to be found.
"I believe we need a review of what we spend in the city," Everitt said.
Coun. Debora Munoz said the city has to develop a clear idea of what the community can afford, and operate within that range - including taxes, utility fees and other fees.
Controlling debt and borrowing will also help the city manage its costs over time, she said.
"We pay $14 million a year to service our debt," Munoz said.
