I love the "thorough analysis" by city admins, and the their infections "can do" attitude. (dripping sarcasm)

How about an EIGHT day garbage pickup cycle, Mr. Gaal? That's not a problem, because every month, due to stat holidays, we DO have an eight day cycle.

That would save about 17% in costs.

But apparently costs aren't the problem according to the mayor:

"This is not about the cost, it's about who should pay."

How can cost NOT be part of the issue, part of the discussion?

Unbelievable.

Although it's improved slightly, the City of Prince George remains the "worst offender" for B.C. communities of its size when it comes to increases in municipal spending, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

enough said

Isn't COST the reason the fees for garbage collection going up?

HOW CAN COST NOT BE PART OF THE DISCUSSION?!!

Dan: pay attention to costs. Please.

For those keeping score, Bill Gaal made $99,992 in 2007, so he's well into six figures now.

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/features/public-sector-salary-database/advanced-search.html?appSession=211208188861030&RecordID=9901&PageID=3&PrevPageID=2&cpipage=1&CPIsortType=&CPIorderBy=

You'd think for that kind of cash plus gold-plated benefits he could come up with a way to trim costs, like taking Skakun's idea and modifying it (8 or 9 days instead of 10), or perhaps conducting a pilot project in one or two zones, or a temporary trial system wide.

But to just say "no?"

It boggles the mind, especially to those of us who are in business for ourselves and have to EARN are revenue through creativity, service and COST CONTROL.

...earn OUR revenue... (I wish we could edit comments..)

So that's a proposed $6 user fee for the transfer station?

Look out for the illegal dumping.

Where’s all the money going?
Oh ya we hired air sniffers to go around
And didn’t we hire an ambassador

Time for a major Dan shake up on next election

It's just outrageous. It's like this entire bunch knows already that they are pathetically outsmarted by the entire process of running a city...are lame ducks...and taxpayer be damned because of it. They will apparently just sit around for the next two years pissing away our money on whatever comes along with minimal to no intelligent discussion on how to reduce costs.

Congrats Dan, between you and the weather, I'm ready to leave PG again.

This just takes me one step closer to selling the homestead and leaving BC. My city taxes have increased over $600 in the past three years and now they are socking it to us in utility fees. Add in the carbon tax grab and the proposed HST and my living on a small pension and the writing is on the wall. I love BC & PG but I soon won't be able to afford to live in PG or BC. I agree with Mr. PG when he says a $6 fee for transfer stations will result in more dumping in the bush around PG.

I am with ya Oldun. Wish I could just snap my fingers like the city and get a raise.
Another thing about recycling the city shut down two of the swap sheds. Two of the reasons given for that is, one, people are taking the stuff and reselling it, oh my. When I took stuff up there I didn't really give a sh.. what they did with it. Two the sheds would be a mess at times, oh my again. At the two affected transfer stations they have attendents and I mostly just see them sitting around. Lets not overwork them now.

We have to pay for that new Performing Arts Center don't we?? This City is a s#!+ show. The only one on City Council that really represents the people of Prince George is Brian Skakun.

I too agree with Oldun. There isn't much left to attract a person to stay here!

-bad roads
-bad air
-bad crime
-bad politicians (horrible)
-bad tax increases for frivolous dreams
-bad night life downtown
-did I mention bad roads?

We need to introduce a municipal voting system like Vancouver. They have a party system, similar to Provincial and Federal elections. I think we may get more sensible decisions made by Council with a format like that. It would give us better represensation.

Just a thought, but some things have to change really soon! Our Municipal Government is out of control with their spending. It has been for a long time! They are like kids in a candy store with a pocket full of money. Infact, I would suggest that some children would have better fiscal responsibility than some of our City Councilers

This is garbage... city council is out of control just like their 'costs'. The City have no priorities when they fund all these frivolous non essential 'services' and stick the home owner with more taxes for the essentials... because we are hostages to our homes.

This is unacceptable when the workers in this city are being asked to take a 25% cut in pay and city admin pay is for the most part more than double what is made in the private sector before the gold plated pensions.

The people of PG didn't elect this mandate, just as we didn't elect to have the olympics, or the HST, or the privatization of BC Rail and BC Hydro... the list goes on and on as clear evidence that democracy is dead, as the 'elected' power is no longer accountable to the people they claim to represent. Maybe we need to recall the mayor to get the point across that we are in a recession and they can not simply keep passing 'costs' on to the home owner.

early municipal election anyone?

Let us do it then!!! Where do we start?? Come on, lets do this. It is long past the time for us to band together. Loki, any ideas?

LOL oh my... blaming the wrong people. It won't matter a hill of beans if you have a changing of the guard. If council is guilty of anything it is accepting whatever information they receive from the administration as gospel. The only way to solve the problem is TRANSPARENCY.
Taxpayers need to insist on it. Be proactive not reactive.
You and I may believe that their priorities are wrong but what are the facts to support it?

Bohemian, thanks for that link. Wow. A bit off topic, but can't believe our Streets Supervisor earned over 95k in 2007.( What now?)Our "Fleet Facilitator" over 81k in 2007. (Again, what now?)He doesn't train anyone but picks up the phone to arrange training for our equipment operators.
We all take pride in our jobs and wonder why the City can't budget for a real winter. More on this later if anyone is interested. Remember though, City workers and their families pay taxes(raised now as I have a med. garbage can) drive on the same roads as you do and most of us are P.O'd also, at least the way snow removal has been done the last 2 years.

This garbage increase gets my goat. As a home owner I am held hostage to all sort of fee and tax increases without any way to opt out or take responsibility for my own needs. Like it or lump it.
No curbside recycling: now I have to save enough garbage in my yard to justify starting up the gas guzzler truck and make a trip to the landfill/recycle center. Costs me money AND is bad for our enviroment instead of putting it to the curb. I avoid making unneccesary trips and if I can leave it at the curb I will, it makes no sense to charge more for a service and then tell people to drive their garbage to the dump anyways.
They talk the talk, but never walk the walk.

Well the City of Prince George council's has done it again to the citizens of Prince George with another increase in utility taxes. the Citizen newspaper in their article stated that this is the secone increase in 6 months. I live just on the outskirts of the city, my children would like me to move to the city, I keep telling them I cannot afford this, because every time you turn around taxes of one form or another are being increased. I like it just fine where I am. City dwellers just wait when the city announces that your property taxes will increase again, and they will. They need to pay for their wish list somehow, and you as the taxpaper will be elected to fullfill their wishes. I think I will stay where I am. Thank you but no thanks.

A few thoughts about the frequency of garbage collection in PG. Mr. Galls statement of no other municipality in Canada using a ten day pick- up might be true but moving here from an other province in the last few years our garbage was collected much less frequent than it is here at a much reduced cost to taxpayer.
IMO we do not require once aweek pick-up all year round. Maybe we as a city should think a little outside the box instead of the same old same old. Thats from somebody who has seen it done differently and maybe better in a few different places.

After a little work recycling, sorting and composting our household garbage it now takes three weeks to have enough in the can to make it worth taking to the curb,most times half full. So it is a load of bull for the city to say a less frequent pick up is a non starter.

The city should be looking at ways to encourage recycling and composting, making different pick up schedules possible.

I think it would be a wise investment to clean house in the administration and pay the severance. The only thought that ever comes into their pointy little heads is " raise taxes."

Will have to wait till next election to deal with Mayor and council

I think maddog and lonesome sparrow both make very good points. Why can't the city think outside the box on some potential cost cutting ideas? For example:

- Why can't we have less frequent garbage pickup?
- Why can't we revise our snow clearing policy so that lesser used roads only get cleared when snowfall reaches a certain amount (see Winnipeg's policy here (http://www.winnipeg.ca/PublicWorks/Snow_Clearing_Policy/default.asp)?

There doesn't seem to be much ingenuity coming out of city hall in regards to some of this stuff and perhaps that is a direct reflection on administration and their ability to develop innovative solutions to some of our problems. Maybe we as residents of the city also need to revise our expectations a little bit and stop complaining so much if service levels do go down from what we are accustomed to. For example, how much does it cost to clear the snow from the entry of every driveway once the plow has gone by? Maybe we should go back to getting the shovel or snowblower out and take care of it ourselves like we used to.

They are all brain dead and awe-struck by the salaries and gold-plated pensions they are getting while not having to do much of anything. Has anyone checked their credentials lately? Nepotism reigns in city Hall admin/staff. Nuff said. We should all go and dump our next load of garbage on the front new plaza of city hall and see how "that smells".