By Cheryl Jahn

Council approves 2023 budget with tax hikes

Feb 1, 2023 | 11:11 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – With a few changes to the original document, Mayor and Council passed a budget for 2023, albeit after 15 hours of discussion.

The only change to the operating budget came in the snow control budget. While Administration suggested adding $400,000 to the base budget of $10 million, Council opted not only to forego the $400,000 but also reduce the base budget by another $200,000. That means the new snow control budget in $9.8 million.

There was also a trio of enhancements, or extras, in the budget.

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The first two involved the RCMP with, firstly, an additional four officers at a cost of $842,000 and the second was a request for two more municipal staff. All totalled, those enhancements reached just over a million dollars. There was motion to have the first request covered off by the Safe Restart money, of which there is roughly $2.8 million remaining. The motion was put forward by Councillor Ron Polillo and supported by Councillor Brian Skakun.

“What I’m trying to do is create a balance,” noted Polillo, added the Safe Restart money gave Council an opportunity to lessen the burden on taxpayers. “There’s a lot of people suffering right.”

However the motion did not pass, with most Councillors arguing it simply pushed the burden for police enhancements to the next budget.

“I am fundamentally opposed to using Restart money for this,” claimed Councillor Cori Ramsay, who noted how Prince George has some of the highest case counts in the province.

A third enhancement was $100,000 for the Fire Department to do a feasibility study on a training facility. Following a motion from Councillor Kyle Sampson, Safe Restart money will be used to cover off that request.

When the dust settled, the final tax levy will be 7.58 percent. That represents $145 dollar increase per year on a representative property in Prince George is $410,000.