Budget Challenges Outlined
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 @ 4:00 AM
Prince George, B.C.-The budget for 2014 is being shaped based on the cost drivers for the City and the expected increased revenues.
Council has called on staff to produce a budget that would require no more than 2.5% increase in spending. That would make it the lowest increase in the last decade.
The way things are looking today, there are increases expected for snow control, the RCMP salaries, transit services, City staff salaries and benefits. There are expected costs for the City’s centennial celebrations, a firehall master study, and increases to hydro and natural gas costs.
Initiatives Prince George is expected to ask for a 2.5% hike to its budget as well.
The increase in revenues that will offset the increase in costs are listed as $2.2 million with about half of that coming from new construction and $1.04 million from increases to the fees and charges. It is also expected that with increased enforcement and fine revenue, the City will be able to collect an extra $467 thousand through on street parking enforcement ( this depends on the approval of buying a new license plate recognition system).
Then there is the need to boost the snow levy. While the City has collected about $5 million dollars over the past couple of years, that hasn’t been enough to cover the actual costs of snow clearing. In 2011, snow clearing cost the City $6.7 million, and that extra money had to come from general surplus, and that is just not sustainable.
So, staff are recommending the snow levy be boosted by another $958 thousand dollars, pushing it over the $6 million dollar mark. That boost would make up 1.15% of the planned 2.5% increase. Keep in mind, the recommendation is calling for taxpayers to pay more, at a time when the service level has been reduced by having the snow clearing threshold for residential roadways increased by another 2 centimeters of snow.
Also to be increased, is the General Infrastructure reinvestment fund, the recommendation is to hike that amount by another $533 million, or .64% of the proposed increase.
With General operating levels proposed to increase by just under $600 thousand that 0.72% would round out the full 2.5% proposed increase in spending.
Although the amount to be spent on road rehab is $7 million dollars, that doesn’t mean there would be any increase from the taxpayers. $2 million dollars will be coming from the gas tax which is administered by the Union of BC Municipalities. It had been thought those dollars were only to be used for projects that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, projects like new bike lanes, or HOV lanes, but certainly not road rehabilitation. The city has received confirmation the dollars can be used for road rehabilitation and that, apparently, that has always been the case. That lead Councillor Dave Wilbur to remark “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing” as communities have raised the issue of wanting to use the gas tax funds for road rehabilitation over and over again at the Union of BC Municipalities conference.
Comments
If one were to look at the UBCM site, and look at the Gas Tax Fund, you would see that it clearly states that these funds can be used for Local Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels. This applied from 2005 to 2014. Maybe there were strings attached, however it doesn’t show on the site.
It also states money can be used for Community Energy, and of course we spent some $4,366,000.00 of Gas Tax Revenues on our Community Energy System. So how deeply did the City look into this issue. Perhaps rather than raising the issue at a UBCM meeting they should have asked some questions.
I think that if the General Public had known that this money was available for roads, we would not have supported spending it on a Community Energy System.
I agree that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, however the real question is, who’s hand are are talking about??
And yet our sidewalks and bike lanes remain in an abysmal state.
Frist thing we have to check into is whether the people have working for us are competent.
There are some very robust indicators that they are far too frequently not competent.
For $7 million, that should put a dent in the amount of potholled roads.
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