Sounds like they’re getting ready to contract it out. Good to see…let’s start slashing that work force and get it down to a reasonable size.

Every year it’s the same thing with city council and the snow removal/clearing budget everything is hunky dory till December and then they struggle to find money for snow removal/clearing I understand that they have a certain amount to spend on services but for crying out loud leave the snow budget alone this is one of the few services where tax payers in PG don’t in general mind paying more for.

But I’ve never given city council or city services a lot of credit for being smart when it comes to spending how much have they wasted in the past 8 years on downtown revitalation when it could’ve been better spent on other more needed services like road maintenance and water and sewer services. But because most of city councillors own or have business interests downtown they would rather waste our tax money keeping their stores open rather than running a city.

If I knew it cost $1000.00 Dollars a month to feed my family, would I budget 700.00, if I did, every month, every year, I would be over budget. What the hell is wrong with the Queen and her henchmen

Shut down IPG and give the $1000000 to snow removal and get at ‘er…

The part of the story that really gets me is the condescension of city council to give a WHOLE 15 MINUTES for public input first.

Not counting on many people showing up to speak, are they? And if we do, they can shut it down quickly saying they are out of time.

They have this all backwards. They should be doing everything they can to encourage public input, and then give the public more time to make presentations. That would be showing some leadership and openness.

One thing I think they should do is change the annualization date for the budget. It is absurd to have the budget up for renewal at the peak of the season. I would suggest they do it soon after the end of snow season, say May.

On another note.
How is it that they believe there will be less snow this year than last year. It is time to stop denying that Prince George gets snow. Add in the fact that most vehicles are inappropriate for winter driving and so we need to have adequate snow removal that has an appropriate budget.

The mayor and council do know we live where it snows dont they ? They know when they dont budget enough for snow removal the money has to come from somewhere else I hope. It doesnt matter how you make your budget look.. if it isnt realistic its not going to be met.. and Green and croonies are many steps from reality.

Revenues for District Energy System $200,000.00 Expenditures $253,000.00 Not sure what they mean by $53,000.00 in transfers. Transfers from where???

“Transfers from where???”

Your wallet!

Mantra of user pay out the window for pet projects.

5 of the 15 minutes will be spent making sure the presenters talk into the microphone… and unfortunately what is to be done with the input? Staff has spent months working on the budget… There will be no… Good Point! we’ll re-write this item to reflect that! moments.

In the above arrticle ist states that the actual amount spent on PLOWING and SNOW REMOVAL was $3.37-million in 2012.

That is then compared to $5.30-million dollars (unaudited) spent last year for NET SNOW CONTROL OPERATIONS.

That is a difference of $1.93 million. That is a lot of money between what is called PLOWING and SNOW REMOVAL and NET SNOW CONTROL OPERATIONS.

So what else goes into SNOW CONTROL OPERATIONS other than PLOWING and SNOW REMOVAL?

Maybe slush removal?????? Like, a slush fund?

What pet projects? Selling dog tags?

Sanding and salting? Contracting out? Repairing, maintaining, fueling equipment?

How about some clarity in budget reporting out to people?

Do those outside workers and operators not have a no lay off clause, so the meter is still ticking even when there is no snow. Could this be a part of the 10% that Ms. Green promised to root out during the campaign?

The DES is a dog…hence a pet project.

Speaking of dog tags I never heard how much money the dog license gestapo collected or if they will be back this summer.

boonDOGgle

lonesome sparrow you are right those outside workers have it made. The only thing they do is plow snow, that’s it. No snow to plow, they just sit around collecting their pay. Hey there are other outside workers whose only job is street sweeping. Right now they are in Cancun collecting their pay.

seamutt – just to clarify, but are you being sarcastic or is that really the case?

The city snow workers get paid as per their contract.. if they arent plowing snow they are doing other work. Its the private contractors that get paid wether they are working or not.. Not sure if they get a full wage when sitting or not though. As for the street sweepers they have other jobs when there are no streets to sweep.

Good post seamutt and good point PVal.

There are the least number of outside workers employed by the City (streets, parks, water/sewer, etc) – than every before, as in the hands that do the work and operate the equipment. Not sure about management. There are more and more outside contractors involved in snow removal than ever in the past. It is already being contracted out folks, slowly but surely and it isn’t getting ANY CHEAPER.

Forgot to add, the snow crew used to have our streets cleared with a mere three day turn around – now ?????????

So more money from taxpayers, less workers and the service has hit rock bottom.

What could be the problem?

I live on a very short streert but with all the 3 and 4 story houses the traffic is heavy and the snow becomes hard packed and dangerous to drive on. With all of the bumps and rutts that I have to drive my vehicle over winter was worse than this summer with all of the pot holes. Queen green may besaving money on snow removal but roads like ours is the reason why she is saving money. If they aren’t being graded then they should be saving money! By simple grading hard rutts and bumps from our roads our vehicles will last longer.

Someone should compare the budget of PG to a neighboring city with similar population and weather (e.g. Kamloops) and see how much waste is done and in what area.

Uhhhh, univ…..Prince George’s snow budget is more than 5 times that of Kamloops. What exactly is it you would like to see compared ?

The issues in PG is a funding problem or spending problem (say in categories of Police, snow, fire, travel, fees/tax ….)? When the prices of homes go up then one may assume that the revenues of the city also go up.

For example a study comparing UNBC with other small universities found out that it has a lot more funding available compared to others but it has a lot of overspending. Is this chronic wasteful spending in UNBC as part of a bigger problem in the city? Does PG city also suffer from over spending too?

univ……over spending, over borrowing, you must be new to town.

I agree w/ bcnorth250, what has happened w/ the turnaround times for plowing. This winter for our street it has ranged from a minimum of 10 days to 14 ( except one week in November when we were plowed 2x in 3 days, w/ only 5 cm of new snow). I have low expectations on our road clearing.

“univ” how the municipal tax system works is that your assessment x the mill rate = the property taxes you pay. If your assessment goes up, to create the same revenue for the municipal government, the mill rate would go down.

as for the snow budget, so they went over budget last year and have nothing in the reserve and they aren’t considering a contribution to the reserve? What happens if we have a really snowy oct, nov, & dec.?

You would think they would at least put a little into the reserve as a rainy (or snowy) day fund? Sorry, that would require some common sense. I guess their plan will be just to cut back service like they did this past December.

“When the prices of homes go up then one may assume that the revenues of the city also go up.”

That would be the wrong assumption.

When the cost to the city goes up, then it has to find more revenue. If they cannot find it elsewhere, then taxation increases.

Thanks for the info. I wasn’t sure of the adjustment of mill rate and that is why I used may. Here in BC it is different than in the US.

But the comparison of revenue/spending in PG vs Kamplops or other other cities is a good research topic for a student.

Univ – comparing to governments is never a great idea. It’s a choice between bad and worse. They need to compare the city departments one by one with how a similar outfit would be run by private enterprise.

Then you get some real comparisons!