YouWill Pay More for Snow Removal

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 08:22 PM

Prince George, B.C.- Expect to pay a little more for snow removal on your tax bill this year. Snow clean up in Prince George has been very expensive in January. That month alone, the City was hit with 88 cm of snow. That’s nearly three times the amount ( 29cm) that fell on the City in January of last year.

The good news is, the relatively mild winter months of 2010 left the snow clearing budget with a surplus of $1.56 million. The bad news is, the cost of cleaning up last month was $1.73 million dollars.

The annual budget is $5 million dollars, so the recommendation was to put the surplus from last year into a special reserve fund, and boost the levy for snow control this year by .8%, to add a further $41 thousand dollars to the budget. That increased amount would cover the extra money for increased wages and increases in hauling fees without risking touching the reserve fund.

That extra $41 grand didn’t sit well with Councillor Dave Wilbur who said he could not support increasing the fund. Councillor Cameron Stolz disagrees saying the budget for January alone was almost 800 thousand more than normally budgeted for January, “It is only prudent to put the surplus from last year into a reserve fund.”

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Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 08:22 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: fuceneh on February 23 2011 9:13 PM

Keep on raising those taxes city council!You might want to increase the utility bills a litle more also,10% hardly seems like enough.
I hope you manage your household money a lot better than you do the taxpayers,otherwise we will have to give you another pay increase.
Shame on you.

Posted by: northernjoe on February 23 2011 9:22 PM

Hmmm. Let's stash last years surplus in general revenue... maybe we can fund the "New arts Center"... the ever dwindling population won't mind paying extra for stuff that REALLY needs to happen... like snow removal.... or filling potholes...

If I still lived there I would be SO pissed with the reckless and random spending of the city's mothers and fathers...

Did I just read in the Citizen that the city has spent close to a million dollars on feasibility studies for a new arts center???!!! Without direction from the population???!! Holy crow.

My thoughts are with the people of Prince George during your inevitable and sure fall into bankruptcy... good luck with the 2015 games.... seriously, you will need it.

Posted by: HarleyGuy72 on February 24 2011 1:15 AM

Just another reason to say goodbye to this place. The inept city council always looking for more money with less service. Pointless spending and wasting money. It takes well over a week to get streets cleared after a snowfall , and all the mayor can say is we were not prepared for it. Wake up Dano , Prince George is a winter city. Instead of giving you buddies in the city works dept a 35% raise , why not use that money towards the snow removal budget? In a time when people are losing jobs and their homes , lets stick it to them. Good riddance to Prince George. I cannot get out of here fast enough.

Posted by: acrider54 on February 24 2011 5:29 AM

This so called city is turning into a joke. Just keep taxing it to us and this place will be a village.

Posted by: HeGottaGo on February 24 2011 6:27 AM

Read about it all in the Citizen on Saturday or maybe Monday.

Posted by: jonnypg on February 24 2011 7:28 AM

It doesn't matter our much of a raise they get anymore does it! they just pass the cost of it on to the taxpayers.

Posted by: jonnypg on February 24 2011 7:38 AM

Sorry about the spelling mistake folks...our = how.
still wiping the sleep from my eyes ;)

Posted by: Headshake on February 24 2011 7:42 AM

What the hell is a reserve fund for if not covering months where the costs are unexpectedly high?

Snow removal in this city is a terrible, terrible joke. Paying more for it is the punchline.

Posted by: mattyc on February 24 2011 8:18 AM

The road I pay tax to live on still has not been done. Try walking on it. LOL. Think I should fall on it maybe I could sue the city for negligence. This is just another example of their greed and make us pay more for a service we are still waiting for. I cant see it costing almost 2 million dollar to remove the last snowfall. This is just a scam they do nothing at all. Oh well I am moving in spring. I will not pay these crooks again. We get NOTHING for our tax. NOTHING.

Posted by: HarleyGuy72 on February 24 2011 9:18 AM

Hey Dan Rogers, according to the long term forecast we could be expecting over 35 cm of snow this week. Here is a heads up to prepare for it. Maybe I should charge city hall a small fee for advising you to prepare for snow in the winter.

Posted by: faxman on February 24 2011 9:37 AM

Rogers should have stayed in Halifax...

Posted by: retired senior on February 24 2011 10:00 AM

Way to go Rogers and so called council.For every dollar you increase taxes it's another nail in your coffin come Nov. elections. Rogers you will be losing your $90,000 plus per year taxpayers salary and the rest of the so called council won't be able to collect their next salary increase.Any bets the BASSERMAN voted in favour of this increase.

Posted by: Retired 02 on February 24 2011 10:36 AM

That’s 3 feet of snow and within days most was gone. And 88 cm is a bit of a streck. They were plowing our street after a 5 cm (2 inches) had fallen. Maybe they should consider not hauling the snow off some of the streets. On Ospica they plow sidewalks and sand them. For all the foot traffic why not just clean the sidewalk on just one side of the street. Things never change there appears to be very little planing in whatever the City does.

And Council is not to blame for what goes on at City Hall. Its what the madarines feed them. And dont forget that Bul***t baffles brains.
Cheers

Posted by: Retired 02 on February 24 2011 10:36 AM

Posted by: Dragonmaster on February 24 2011 11:29 AM

"was almost 800 thousand more than normally budgeted for"

Hmmm, thats about what was spent on studying for the PAC.

Posted by: supertech on February 24 2011 8:00 PM

Why are we hauling snow away from the city when we have empty lots everywhere? The HB slough was a good snow dump but some rocket scientist figgured it would run into the Fraser. Now I don't care where you melt it; it's going into the Fraser. This is nothing more than "keeping up appearances".