This looks very good on Quesnel.
I wonder if they are in the same infrastructure quandary that this city is, regarding old sewer and water lines?

PG has the same accounting and the surplus here would rock you, however have no fear it wont see the light of day. They have more accounts to hide funds then most small countries. If they were smart they would apply to the billions in liabilities but their hoarders.

Must be an election year in the near future? “Political Propiganda!”

Will we ever see a headline like this for Prince George? Highly unlikely!!

The spin doctors have always stated the reason for money problems in PG was because PG has winter. I guess Quesnel doesn’t have winter.

Well, Quesnel that is great…maybe could even buy a house there…just thinking.

you look at the number of people that works in city hall and relate it to the population. I bet their ratio is far less.

So why do we need to have so many????

We need to do a serious mirror, mirror on the wall thing. We have way too many overstuffed beer-o-craps, getting way too much. This needs to be weaned off. If there was one good thing Sheri Green did is, she at least managed to reduce some of this.

How come they can justify increase greater than COLA, year after year….. Is it simple mis management.

“The City of Quesnel will use the surplus it has accumulated in unallocated funds to reduce taxes in that city, by one half of one percent”

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Good leadership or lack of vision? Personally, I would say the latter.

One half of one percent is like $10 on a $2,000 property tax bill, or one trip to Starbucks per year.

For the average person, that is nothing. For the city, on the other hand, $600,000 could actually complete some meaningful projects in the year, could be used to reduce debt, or be put into a reserve fund to cover off unexpected future expenses.

Despite the catchy headline, it’s poor financial management IMHO.

So we have Quesnel setting up reserve funds and lowering taxes, and in PG we have the Green machine borrowing money and raising taxes…. Is it all about priorities one has to wonder?

Is Quesnel debt free? If not, what is their debt repayment plan?

Quesnel has a quarter of the debt per capita that PG has.

A city like Mackenzie, Fort St James, White Rock, or Langly however have no debt at all (2012 statistics). Most cities in BC have far less than $10 million in long term debt. PG, Kelowna, Penticton, Kamloops, Surrey, and Vancouver are the exception with high debt… PG is by far the highest debt per capita.

Quesnel pays $950,000 a year in debt repayment… PG pays $15,000,000 million a year in debt repayment.

“PG, Kelowna, Penticton, Kamloops, Surrey, and Vancouver are the exception with high debt”

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And in related news, most of these cities also provide services and luxuries to many of those people living in those smaller cities than have no debt.

I suppose that’s the “downside” of being a regional centre. You get to bear the full cost of things that benefit the entire region. The “upside” of course, is that you have these things in your city and you can enjoy the increased standard of living because of it. It isn’t always about who has the best balance sheet . . .

Victoria, Vernon, and Nanamio are regional centers too. They don’t have high debt… less than half what PG has. One could make the argument they have more amenities and services than PG does.