Budget discussions begin this week for city council and it’s unlikely that anyone in our community is going to be happy about the result.
No one likes bad news, even more so when you’re the one who must deliver that news. So it was no surprise last year when all but one on Prince George city Council, faced with having to deliver a 6.5 per cent tax increase in an election year, chose to vote in favour of punting 3.5 per cent of it to this year by using one-time grant money from the province.But that’s just the start of the bad news for our newly elected mayor and council.
If, at any point during the budget debate, a re-elected councillor suggests that they want to see a zero per cent tax increase, they should be ridiculed. They knew this year would start with the 3.5 per cent they kicked down the road from last year, plus the increase from the extra cost of debt servicing due to budget overruns on capital projects.
Unfortunately, the bad news for council at budget time doesn’t end in 2023. Next year will see the impact of the closure of Canfor’s pulp line. As well there is another one per cent increase for the RCMP contract, inflation expected around five per cent, and the end of one-time grants from the province for sidewalk rehabilitation, and that’s just the start. The result is likely to be a seven per cent tax increase for 2024.
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