By Cheryl Jahn

Finance and Audit: 8.17% tax hike?

Dec 4, 2023 | 3:13 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Prince George residents could be facing a tax increase, at a minimum, of 8.17 percent. That was not the initial cost, which was 5.88 percent. However, the City recently received news that the tax base PG Pulp came back at a lower than anticipated. From $1.3 million to $828,000 which means a fairly significant drop in the taxes coming to the City.

Also, the City has to predict how much two major contracts will impact the bottom line. Specifically, the Firefighters contract, which expired at the end of 2021, and the CUPE contract for City staff, which are in current negotiations. Those two will cost the City an estimated $3.64 million.

A perennial public favourite is snow removal. The budget last year was $9.8 million. Administration is recommending an increase to $10.4 million in order to address inflationary increases during a normal snow season.

Road rehabilitation. Another perennial favourite. The last budget set aside $6.1 million dollars. But throwing in increased costs, such as the massive jump in asphalt costs, Administration is predicting a six to ten percent hike in costs. With that in mind, it is recommending an additional $600,000 to that budget.

However, there are number of requests for what are called “service enhancements.” There six of them altogether, including a request from the RCMP to add four additional officers at a price of nearly $221,000 per officer and increasing fire protection staff by seven members at a cost of over $900,000. With the enhancements, if approved, would push the tax hike higher than last year’s to 7.94%. That’s an average of $160 per average household.

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However, Committee Chair Cori Ramsay asked that adding $300,000 to the roads budget, as per the Citizen budget, pushing the potential tax hike to 8.17%.

However, none of these numbers are cast in stone. Budget discussions get underway with a full Council in January. A balanced budget has to be submitted to government by May 15th of next year.