My question is the City wants a 3,5 persent tax increase on average from the citzens but – yet no one has said a word but the approximate one hundred thousand dollars our City Fire Rescue Service spent on outfitting there members:

with nice down filled club jackets – estimated cost $700.00 per unit – these jackets can not be used anywhere close to a fire they will melt aka club jackets but they do look good.

Pyjama’s for all that sleep at night – have to be some sort of uniform issue for sleeping the night away – anyone else get those supplied by there employer

and lets not forget the wonderful personal boots good to -100 degrees F – good for washing there vehicles behind the firehalls cause they are not safety rated to be used in any stucture fire

Am I the only one that see’s a problem here.

Maybe someone should be an official answer to this line on the budget

Just wondering

They should consider another class–“energy” and recover some dollars from the sector that is hammering us at the pumps, smart meters and NG bills? If the province can draw off them why not the municipal government?

Who has final approval of these expenditures? Or is it no one because there is excess monies in the budget to be spent? (Spend it yearly or lose it)

With the possible exception of the Police and Fire department, every department in the City could have their budgets reduced by 10% and there would be no detrimental effect on services.

So whats the problem. No one wants to do the **dirty** work. So we keep sticking it to taxpayers.

The City of Prince George is a basket case. It does not have sufficient people or business, to service the area it is responsible for,.

Those at City Hall keep doing the same things over and over expecting different results. That’s a big part of the problem.

The City is much like the gas companies. They charge us the higher rates because they can get away with it.

So why do we not get to see the total assessed value for each category in the above table? Without that as a minimum, one cannot reach any defensible conclusion.

Palopu,

You hit the nail right on the head with the 10% reduction. That’s exactly what needs to happen.

If what ” getagripreally” write’s about expenditures at our Fire Hall is true, then Opinion250, CKPG News, etc should expose it!
Expenses such as this, paid for by City Tax Payers are ludicrous and exactly one of the reasons are tax rate keeps going up.

When will it end?

If what ” getagripreally” write’s about expenditures at our Fire Hall is true, then Opinion250, CKPG News, etc should expose it!
Expenses such as this, paid for by City Tax Payers are ludicrous and exactly one of the reasons are tax rate keeps going up.

When will it end?

I’m not certain about the the rest of you, but I’m certainly have this awful used and abused feeling the more I read on. I don’t think people are supposed to feel like this about where they live. Do you?

The 10% reduction was the cornerstone of Ms. Green’s campaign and so far zilch. It looks like they are admitting failure in last years “longer grass” experiment and adding the park workers that were laid off. So with the addition of her personal assistant the Patricia Bvld employee count is virtually unchanged:(

The department heads want to protect their own little fiefdoms when it comes time to cut the fat. The absence of a effective city manager becomes obvious as there is no one to cut through all the BS and identify areas that can be trimmed with little noticeable effect to services.

IMO the city will continue on the current path until the proper CEO takes charge.

Maybe the next mayor wannabee will promise a 20% reduction….should garner some votes from those that have a thing about flailing city employees.

So this brings up the question ,why did Bates leave? Was the Mayor trying to do his job? Why is it taking so long to replace the city manager?

We must also remember that the present council inherited a lot of debt from our great Mayor Kinsley. Remember the 56 million he gave to the gas project. And then there is the 42 million for the police tower and a number of others.
Cheers

The average inflation of Canada in 2012: 1.52 %

For 2013 prediction – same thing, perhaps less. Take the 10% promised (!) savings from the 1.52 % and the only justifiable increase would be not more than 1.40 %.

What is going on?

Why is the Mclaren & Fehr complaint against Bell allegedly failing to rig the wood centre contract in their favour, as allegedly promised, on CBC news before O250? Not often Ben and crew get beaten to the punch on something juicy and local!

I guess Ben figures that reporting another day with a Liberal corruption charges scandal is as boring these days as reporting that the sun rose and set. Man, a deck-for-knife trade never looked so innocent and pure after a decade with these characters!!

It has been going on likely for close to 2 decades in virtually ALL cities in Canada.

I have not seen anyone address why, could be I just simply have not been looking for it. I thought someone would have let us know by now. Fat chance!!!!

Here are some things to consider.

1. We are taxed by feds, province, and municipality. Feds and province have been duking it out as to how much they can reduce taxation. Municipality cannot play in that game since the loss in service by feds and province has been generally passed on to municipality.

2. police and fire protection services have risen more than any other single service.

3. government salary increases have outpaced the private sector.

4. we still do not know whether outsourcing or in-house is the most economical way to run a municipality.

The report states that no wrongdoing has been found in the bidding process by Shackell although there were concerns that did not fall within her mandate.

Have no sympathy at all for Dan, likely thought he could make a quick buck flipping the place and it did not work out. Wanna play in the big boys sandbox better have deeper pockets.

Fehr and McLaren shortlisted for an innovative wood building project that had over thirty firms put bids in for prequalification, many or even most of which work on the international scene with innovative and award winning projects?????

I have not had such a good laugh all year …… LOL.

The project is under the control of PatnershipsBC.

The only problem they had is that they thought they could get someone to add a private compnent to the building but, as we all know, someone would have to be stupid to invest in downtown PG for such a project by building additional rental space that would have to fetch at least $35/sf to even hope of breaking even.

Anyone who has anything to do with such developments knows that any “deals” that anyone made before the RFP went out is null and void unless written into the agreement.

To the dynamic duo … learn how to compete fairly rather than making your living by thinking you can always wheel and deal through life …… you ought to know better!!!!!!

From the CBC report:

“The records also show McLaren has donated more than $2,100 to the BC Liberals over the past eight years”

WOW!!!!!!!! Hope that did not break his piggybank!

“Elections BC records show that Fehr or his company have donated $123,000 to the B.C. Liberals since 2006”

At least he is a little bit more generous with the money which he can claim for a significant sized tax rebate.

“The allegations are contained in a written complaint filed last November by two Prince George businessmen and submitted to Jane Shackell, the lawyer charged with overseeing the fairness of the bid process.”

These two were actually serious to even think they would be shortlisted. Who were they going to use as Architects and Engineers?

Cooper would likely have had a better chance to be on the qualification shortlist.

“McLaren and Fehr allege that in May 2012, government representatives met with them”

And these people were?????

And these people were?????

Not the government process servers… they could not find hide nor hair of Dan:)

LOL …. anything to get out of paying for the land they bought with taxpayers’ money, eh???

And what about the hotel property?

We have to remember that the proposal was likely for the PG Hotel site and nothing more. Laner, McLaren, and good knows who else bought some of the rest of the land contiguous to the hotel site.

The RFP called for the shortlisted parties (3) to win extra points towards selection evaluation by providing an addtional commercial development adjacent to the WIC.

So what happened with that. We do not know yet since the award ha not been made yet, but there are some senarios.

Commonwealth, or whoever, was approached by one or more of the proponents to see how much the land would be. Mclaren wanted to give it to them at a Brother-in-law price ….. LOL.

So, the proponents saw that they were landlocked and had to pay an exhorbitant price to appease the local yahoos.

Rather than cave in, they asked whether the additional space was an option or a requirement. They were told it was an option, which was relatively clear in the documents from PartnershipsBC on my reading.

Just one scenario. No one has commented on that part of the “squeeze” yet at all.

Keep your eye on the pea. Mclaren and Fehr are playing a diversion trick hoping we will lose sight of the pea. ;-)

Better get a two bits worth in before all the posts disparaging Mr. McLaren disappear from print as they tend to do….

Gus: “Keep your eye on the pea. Mclaren and Fehr are playing a diversion trick hoping we will lose sight of the pea. ;-“

You are correctamundo, Mr. Gus. These local characters have a lot to lose, especially McLaren as he prefers to play with everyone’s money but his own – there is more behind this than is clear now as these two must have something big to go public now. For the libs the timing sucks and Bell’s early retirement never did sit well…..the spidey sense was tingling.

Ah, this is FREE ENTERPRISE AT WORK!

Definition: Get rich on other people’s money and never risk your own; if you do by chance lose money, get the taxpayers to bail you out. Use whatever means you have to, to get rich.

Number one provision: Lots of money is never enough money

Number two provision: People with money are just more smarter than the rest of the great unwashed therefore justifying shady deals and lack of ethics.

So what are the consequences?

Why are the residents footing so much of the bill and big industry gets so little? Put the increses on the big industry, box stores etc. First we get raped on our utilities and now our taxes. All this while we promote our city on what a great place we live in. Haven’t see any promotions telling people that our city has increased our cost of living more than our wages have increased! Maybe we should look twice at projects like Kin Center, Dikes and the montrousity of a Police Station we are building. Like putting a diamond in a pile of poo and calling it jewlery.

bcnorth: “Ah, this is FREE ENTERPRISE AT WORK!

No it’s not, but thanks for coming out.

The thing that bothers me the most about Maclaren and the Global News story is that the report seemed to make Pat Bell the bad guy in this. Pat Bell’s a pretty decent hard working guy who seems to have the best interests of his constituents in mind. Jas Johal of Global TV did a lousy job of reporting this story. Maybe he should have talked to a few citizens of PG to get an opinion of McLaren instead of putting Pat Bell on the spot. Perhaps Jas Johal and Global TV have a vested interest in the NDP winning the next election and are trying to cast further shadows upon the Liberals. The Liberals don’t seem to need any help with that lately. Pat Bell is now smeared with this and many will assume he did something wrong. So much for innocent until proven guilty. Global TV is now judge, jury and executioner! I wonder if Jas Johal and Global will offer an apology to Pat when they find out that he didn’t do anything wrong??

Pretty serious allegations to make if they are not true…..someone must be really upset?

Upset? Allegations backed up by what? How about stupid!!!

For anyone who has ever dealt with an RFP, where information is provided prior to the RFP in order to get a feel of how many will respond to one and what it would take to get someone to respond to an RFP or even an old fashioned lump sum construction contract they would know that there is a typical clause in many that states that the infromation provided in the proposal is the sum of all the information on which the proposal is based and that any prior communication whether oral or in writing does not form part of the proposal call.

From my experience, one has to be an idiot to think anything else is the standard practice in the industry and likely every other industry which uses similar procedures.

It is simple due diligence on the part of the proponent.!!!!

So why is this flying at all?

Because the general public does not understand the stanadard process for government and any other major project in today’s business environment and because it is election time and this makes for a foot in the door to get another dig in by playing on the ingorance of the general public.

Simple!! ……. and ANYONE can hit you in this way. The crazier the accusiation, the more believable it is.

The media involved is showing its irresponsibility, its laziness, and its lack of professionalism.

Dan McLaren and his Commonwealth Campuses Corporation or other group bought the old Hotel and flipped it to the city. I not sure if any money was made but quite frankly it wasn’t done for the goodness of the heart.
Then they bought up other property to again please the heart or to make money. When the loan got called they then are pointing fingers because everything hasn’t fell into place and they have a loan. Bad business decisions lead to this type of problems self made in my opinion.
If Pat Bell had made them the deal they are suggesting it should be easy to produce a copy and put the matter to rest.

Gus,you seem to be a little bothered by these accusations? The general public may not be aware of how a Request For Proposals [RFP]from government works…but I’m willing to bet these two fellows have had more than a few dealings with them.

Funny thing is that this isn’t just an “anyone” making these claims…it’s coming from a substantial financial supporter of the BC Liberal Party..making it all the more damning and believable……

Gus. How does the ignorance of the public come to play on this issue.

It seems to be a dispute between McLaren and the Government.

What do you think McLaren stands to gain by writing this letter. I think that we can all agree that he certainly is not a NDP supporter. Obviously he has closed the door on the Liberals, so what’s the nature of the game???

PS. The general public is ignorant on most of these issue’s because the Government, and all their cronies, business’s buddies, and a lot of the professional people, have made every issue so impossible to understand, that they can basically do whatever the hell they want.

That’s the problem with the Country. Not the ignorance of the General Public, but the inane self aggrandizement of Government, and Professional people, who have basically brought this Country to the brink of disaster,.

None of our problems to-day were caused by the average Jane/Joe. They are the direct responsibility of the various political parties, and the professional and business people who support them.

As an example the average Joe/Jane would be quite happy with a flat tax based on income. Why can’t we get one??? Why do you need to hire professionals to do your taxes.. Why do we need an engineer to build and certify a sewage pond??? This list goes on and on and on.

The average middle class Canadian who works everyday doing all the mundane jobs that keep this Country going, are in fact the backbone of the Country. They my friend are the unsung hero’s of all Countries, and they are always being taken advantage of by those with little or no scruples.

“As an example the average Joe/Jane would be quite happy with a flat tax based on income”

That is an excellentpoint that shows the ignorance of the average Joe/Jane

A flat tax, of which a sales tax is a good example, as is property tax for property in the same class, would mean the lower income group would be taking the next big hit in losing ground.

$30,000 income 15% tax means the after tax income is $25,500

The poor gal who makes $300,000 has to pay $45,000 in taxes …… and has the paltry sum of $255,000 left to try to house herself, eat, and travel to Paris …..

Might as well forget about the income tax and move everything to sales taxes as the state of Washington has done.

Oh, who struggles the most with increase in property tax, the person who owns a $1.5 million house in PG or the person who owns a trailer on a lot assessed at $75,000?

Percentages sound so equal don’t they? Well, they aren’t when you do the just the littlest bit of research.

As I said, the public is fucntionally illiterate on something as simple as that. Is itgovernment plopy …. of the BCLiberals? The NDP? The City Councils?

Come on Palopu, I really thought you were smarter than that to take such a petty and uninformed approach.

“None of our problems to-day were caused by the average Jane/Joe”

We are the government. We elected the people. We created the system. We change the systems. If it does not work for us, we revolt.

To say we have nothing to do with the results is kind of false, isn’t it. We are not exactly living in a dictatorship yet.

Obviously most of us are not quite ready for that yet, as many other countries have been throughout history and more so recently.

Speaking of dictatorship

1. is the NDP going to be getting rid of the reverse petition if they take over government?

2. will they put in a flat income tax?

3. will they get rid of the BC income tax and increase the PST?

4. will they get rid of the open competition for government procurement and institute a buy local policy?

http://www.propublica.org/article/flat-taxes-are-big-in-the-former-ussr.-have-they-worked

Flat taxes … do they work?

The RPF scenario that gus wrote is entirely plausible and would just be another example of better judgment being clouded by dollar signs and potential windfall profits.

The pocketbook is the reason that Dan has no qualms about writing the letter, the almighty $$$$ beats politics every time:)