City Crest

By Cheryl Jahn

Council budget

Council completes early budget talks

Jan 26, 2026 | 11:28 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – City Council has launched its budget deliberations, though no hard and fast decisions were made.

Rather Council opted to use it for mostly Q&A, while deferring any decisions around the final numbers at the Wednesday meeting.

However, extensive presentation was made to Council from Administration around what revenue and expenses the City is facing.

Director of Finance and IT Services, Kris Dalio, noted that the decision to bring in a zero percent tax hike in 2020 due to the pandemic, followed by a three percent hike the following year hit put the City in a challenging position, resulting “in some catch up.”

Public Art

New mural for the Conference and Civic Centre

5m ago

Voices & Culture Summit is more than a conference its creates a place of belonging in the North

2h ago

Expo

4th annual Northern RV & Outdoor Expo underway at CN Centre

2h ago

Administration is suggesting the snow removal budget be increased from $10 million to $11 million, even though predicting snow falls from year-to-year is very difficult. However Councillor Ron Polillo has suggested he will consider reducing the snow budget on Wednesday.

It is also seeking an increase to the road rehabilitation budget by $300,000 to maintain a paving plan of just over 50 lane kilometres per year.

The capital budget garnered plenty of discussion from Council Chambers.

The capital budget is divided into three categories: The “funded” budget which sets out the highest priority projects, the “unfunded” capital budget which identifies projects that need to happen but are not as pressing, and the “long-term” capital projects.

The budget set aside for the demolition of the Knights Inn to the tune of $1.4 million, $915,000 which comes from a municipal endowment fund and the remaining $488,000 coming from BC Housing. That work has been identified as a priority to be completed this year, leaving a vacant lot at 650 Dominion Street. However much of the Council discussion revolves around what to do with that lot with respect to the Civic Core Review.

One the unfunded side of the capital budget, two projects were addressed. Councillor Garth Frizzell noted that once again, funding for a new home for the Little Prince train has been deferred for another year.

“This has been pushed from Council to Council to Council,” noted Frizzell, who suggested he would like it to be considered by Council this summer.

Also on the unfunded capital list, was an irrigation system for the Pine Valley Golf Course which Councillor Brian Skakun said “has been punted down the road again.”

If the operating budget is approved as recommended, the tax hike would be 6.1%.

There are seven requests for “enhancements.”

• The Human Resources division is seeking a recruitment and retention advisor at a cost of $133,000.
• Four additional Bylaw Services officers for $459,000.
• Three positions to the Solid Waste Services department for $599,000, with a Bear Awareness pilot program at $450,000
• Adding an Arts, Culture and Heritage Coordinator for $124,000

The RCMP has two enhancement requests:

• A Court Liaison Officer for $111,000
• Three data processing personnel at $287,000

The Prince George Fire Department has the largest enhancement request, seeking 12 additional fire fighters at a cost of $926,000, in order to achieve the ideal standards set out by the National Fire Protection Association’s standards of coverage.

If all the enhancement requests are approved, that could push the tax hike to 7.9%.

More discussion will around the final budget will commence at 1pm Wednesday.