Where Does The Fed And Province Off Street Parking Money Go
Recent discussion around what the parking fees should be for parking in the downtown, along with a study earlier to identify how to extract more money from parking, may have missed the obvious on how to get more money into the program.
If the object of the increases in offstreet parking fees, and the proposed re-introduction of parking fees in the downtown was to raise dollars for offstreet infrastructure, the City may very well have had hundreds of thousands of dollars for that purpose if it had split the grants it gets from the Federal and Provincial governments.
The City may have been saying it needed more money, but in reality, money that was being sent to the City in lieu of taxes by the Federal and Provincial government somehow wound up in the General revenues.
Let me explain.
The Provincial and the Federal government each year deliver grants in lieu of taxes for the property that they own and occupy in a city or town. In Prince George for example, the Oxford Building is owned by the Federal government. The Province has a portion of the Plaza 400 and the court house. There may be other provincial properties in the downtown that I have missed and they are not important to make the point.
Taxes are paid by the owners of buildings in the downtown on this basis; in addition to other taxes there is a specific rate for off street parking. In 2013, that amount was 4.01101 of $1,000 assessed value.
The Federal and Provincial government use this formula for paying their taxes, Taxable assessment times the tax rate. Simple enough, it is the same formula that is used on everyone's taxes in the core.
Last year the Oxford building was assessed at $5,381,000.00. The specific mill rate for off street parking would amount to $21,583.24 . In the case of the Province, the Court house is assessed at $25,441,000 the mill rate for off street parking at 4.01101 would amount to $102,044.00 . The Plaza 400 mill rate for parking amounts to $64,846.00. The total amount is $188,473.24 that the Province and the Federal government contributed by way of the tax mill to off street parking in the downtown.
Did the $188,473.24 reach the coffers for the off street parking?
The simple answer is "NO" .
That money has been, as best as we have been able to learn (we have requested that information on three different occasions and are still waiting for the reply) channeled into "General Revenue".
Now both levels of government say that they don't dictate to a city or municipality how theyare to handle the grants in lieu of taxes, but one would think that if the mill rate was specific to a particular section of the city , it should go to the same areas as dollars from the others in that area are distrinuted.
So on one hand we have been looking for ways to extract more money from those who use pay parking in the downtown, while on the other, the money that is supposed to be earmarked for just that, isn't reaching the pot. Think about it, let's say 10 years at $150,000 per year, you could build a lot of parking in the core, or at the very least reduce what you say is the cost of providing downtown parking if the money went into the right pocket.
As far as we are able to learn, it isn't.
I'm Meisner and that's one man's opinion.
Editors note; At 6.09 am. Monday we received the following response to our questions from the City Of Prince George.
The Provincial and Federal governments pay grants-in-lieu for their properties that are located in the downtown parking specified area. The grants-in-lieu are used for off-street parking purposes and reduce the total amount of the off-street parking levy that other downtown business owners are required to pay. The grants-in-lieu do not provide “extra” funds that could be used to reduce the revenue required from off-street parking rental rates.
Comments
So what? Ben, are you proposing that this money be allocated to off street parking and that taxes go up in some other area to cover off the difference?
If so, fair enough. That can be done with a few bookkeeping entries. It will completely resolve your concern. Of course, you’ll still be faced with the challenge of how to pay for everything else . . .
I think Ben makes an excellent point. That if the money that is paid for off street parking by the senior levels of government was actually allocated by the city to cover those costs, we would then have a more fiscally sound off street parking program and one less crisis of miss management at city hall.
If it means the city has to live within its means from general revenue than so be it. That is what budgets are all about, not the smoke and mirrors variety we get from the City of PG.
Makes me wonder how much more mis-allocation of funds tends to flavour the whole picture of the city’s well-being.
“The grants-in-lieu are used for off-street parking purposes and reduce the total amount of the off-street parking levy that other downtown business owners are required to pay.” .. so what does this mean? That taxpayers in the form of money from the federal and provincial gov’t are subsidizing downtown businesses so they don’t have to pay a downtown parking levy?
If I read this correctly then the City’s explanation makes this a non story?
According to the City, a portion of the province’s and the federal government’s grants in lieu are allocated for downtown parking so they are treated like every other property owner downtown that pays a fee towards off street parking because they don’t have to provide space for parking themselves.
Where is the downtown business association on this topic?
You would think they would have a pretty strong opinion as to whether the cost of parking should be paid more by users or by property owners because that is what this issue is all about. What does that organization think should be done?
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