By Cheryl Jahn

Capital Budget also passed

Jan 24, 2025 | 3:24 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – While the operating budget – the one that talks about how much it costs to run the city – typically dominates budget discussions, the capital budget is also a big one.

Within that budget, there are two categories: the funded list, which are things that must happen or we can afford them and the unfunded list, which are things that the City would like to happen but can’t afford.

This year, there are 78 projects worth over $229 million in the funded budget. Mayor Simon Yu has one project in mind.

“The one that stood out for me, is the treatment plant, the sewage treatment plant. A couple of years ago, Council set about $17 million to have this upgrade and then, due to the other capital obligations, it is down to around $11 million or so.”

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Carrie Jane Gray Park upgrades are another big ticket item on the capital plan. It’s a $6.3 million project. That project includes ball diamond refurbishment, parking lots and trail system upgrades, and overall park signage programs, pedestrian lighting and tree planting.

Sidewalks, pedestrian activity, traffic safety upgrades were brought by Councillor Cori Ramsay.

“This is something that we get a lot of questions about as individual councillors. I get emails and just when we’re out in the public, I get asked about pedestrian safety issues quite often. So that’s one of the things I wanted to highlight in the capital budget.”

In the meantime, there are 60 projects worth $101 million in the unfunded category, such as a new irrigation system for the Pine Valley Golf Course. But Council has looked at some projects they would like to see re-considered for the following year via a special meeting.

“I think this process will really allow Council to pull some of those projects that are very meaningful to the community and help them along a little bit further,” says Ramsay. “A lot of those budgets are just things that staff have eyeballed and think this is roughly what it would cost, but we don’t have firm cost estimates on a lot of those things.”

So how does the capital budget impact taxes, if at all?

“So the tax levy funds mostly operating,’ explains Kris Dalio, Director of Finance. “It does fund certain capital. We have a levy that collects for what we call our General Infrastructure Reinvestment. We also have a levy that collects and pays for the road rehab capital program. But some capital projects are proposed to be funded by debt or are proposed to be funded by a reserve that was seeded by provincial grant money. And so if we cut those funding sources, that doesn’t really affect the tax levy.”

Impacts are more acute when project-specific cuts are made to, say, the roads budget.