Prince George, B.C.-  The Finance and Audit committee for the City of Prince George  has taken its first look at possible tax rates for 2015.

There are still a couple of factors that will need to be finalized  before any  final decision is made on the tax rate.There is the matter of revisiting the budget,  Mayor Lyn Hall  is asking  his  fellow committee members if there is any  interest in “re-jigging” the budget.  Those changes could have  implications on the tax rate if any possible changes increase or decrease the overall  revenue needed.  It is possible there will be a special budget meeting of Council in  early March  to  take another look at the budget that was  put together by the previous Mayor and council.

Some members of the previous council had favoured  a budget scenario that would hold  the increase in  needed revenue  to  1.87% .  While staff under the previous administration had been instructed to  present such a scenario,  that instruction was not followed,  and a 2.5% scenario was presented.

Then there is the final  report from BC Assessment  which will let  City Hall know the  final, total  value  of all  properties in the city. Tax rates are based on  property values  That BC Assessment  final report is not  available until the end of March so it won’t be clear how  to split up the  tax pie  until the final numbers are in.

Three options were  presented to the Finance and Audit committee for  consideration  although  at this point, the options are  examples of the possibilities, “The three options are  there so you can look at how we could  set tax rates” said Chris Dalio  Manager of Financial Services.

There are still several steps that need to be taken before there is any decision on the rate.