No one likes bad news, even more so when you’re the one who must deliver that news. So it was no surprise last year when all but one on Prince George city Council, faced with having to deliver a 6.5 per cent tax increase in an election year, chose to vote in favour of punting 3.5 per cent of it to this year by using one-time grant money from the province.
And the one who voted against wanted to punt four per cent to this year.
But that’s just the start of the bad news for our newly elected mayor and council.
Budget discussions begin this week for city council and it’s unlikely that anyone in our community is going to be happy about the result. There are always calls for efficiency within city hall. The expectation that things could be done better or cheaper - if only someone would bother to look for it. Unfortunately, our three newly elected councilors and mayor will not be able to consider that for this budget, given that it was set in motion by the last council and completed by the time they were sworn in.
If, at any point during the budget debate, a re-elected councillor suggests that they want to see a zero per cent tax increase, they should be ridiculed. They knew this year would start with the 3.5 per cent they kicked down the road from last year, plus the increase from the extra cost of debt servicing due to budget overruns on capital projects. Yet, at no point in the last year did an incumbent bring a notice of motion forward to tell staff how budget reductions could be delivered or let them know where to start the process.
The rest of the bad news shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone really. Costs have gone up at an unprecedented rate with inflation at 7.7 per cent last year. For the city, some of that inflationary cost has been even higher. The publicly tendered paving contract for the city came in 21 per cent higher per ton than the previous year. Council must now decide to either raise taxes by an additional two per cent to offset that cost increase or forever reduce the amount of paving done yearly by 21 per cent.
Unfortunately, the bad news for council at budget time doesn’t end in 2023. Next year will see the impact of the closure of Canfor’s pulp line. As well there is another one per cent increase for the RCMP contract, inflation expected around five per cent, and the end of one-time grants from the province for sidewalk rehabilitation, and that’s just the start. The result is likely to be a seven per cent tax increase for 2024.
Mayor Simon Yu wanted a fresh perspective on the finance and audit Committee and appointed all three of the newly elected councilors to it. That new perspective is likely to find some cost savings inside the city, but nowhere near enough to deal with inflation running rampant. Council is left with just two options: raise taxes or expand the tax base through economic development.
Unfortunately, economic development takes time. That leaves the citizens of Prince George facing a much higher tax bill this year and next.
Cameron Stolz is a Prince George writer.
