Prince George city council approved a 2025 budget featuring a 6.21 per cent property tax increase on Wednesday, Jan. 22, capping off more than 16 hours of discussion over two days.
It’s the lowest tax increase council has approved since 2022, when the budget featured a three per cent increase. The 2024 budget had an increase of 6.78 per cent, the 2023 budget hiked taxes by 7.58 per cent and zero per cent in 2021.
Among the decisions made by council was to roll the dice on snow control costs, dropping the amount set aside for that purpose to $10 million — below the $10.3 million budgeted for in 2024 and the approximately $10.1 million that was actually spent throughout the year.
In December 2024, staff told the Standing Committee on Finance and Audit that their proposed budget would require a 6.55 per cent tax increase.
Then, heading into the first day of budget talks on Jan. 20, that figure had been whittled down to 5.83 per cent.
When deliberations started on Monday, Jan. 20, the proposed operating budget was $177.5 million.
At the end of talks on Wednesday, it had been increased to around $179 million.
Coun. Ron Polillo initially proposed dropping the snow control budget from the $11 million administration had proposed coming into budget talks to $10.5 million. Coun. Trudy Klassen went a step further, proposing a successful amendment to drop it to $10 million.
After that funding decision was made, Coun. Kyle Sampson put forward a successful motion to have council review its snow clearing policy at an upcoming regular council meeting.
Polillo also tried to lower the road rehabilitation budget below the $7 million requested by administration, but that proposal was defeated.
Beyond what was included in the initial proposed budget, council also approved several service enhancements requested by administration.
A request to hire four additional RCMP officers, which officer-in-charge Supt. Darin Rappel said would be used for youth outreach and liaison programs at local schools, was accepted. That will boost the number of Mounties in the city to 157 once the positions are filled.
However, Sampson successful moved for the projected cost of $906,064 be halved as the officers wouldn’t likely be hired until midway through the year.
Manager of finance and IT services Kris Dalio said that this move would lead to about a 0.33 per cent increase to the 2026 tax levy.
Council also approved two of three additions to municipal staff who assist the police that administration requested. An assistant manager position for police support services worth $140,093 and a community policing co-ordinator position worth $96,785 were approved while a victim services worker position worth $92,116 was rejected.
A proposal to hire five new firefighters and promote four existing staff to the rank of lieutenant at a cost of $732,112 was approved.
The hiring of four additional bylaw officers at a cost of $395,672 was rejected, with multiple councillors saying they wanted to see what the new department manager can do before adding additional staff.
The Citizen reported on Jan. 17 that the previous manager of bylaw services, Charlotte Peters, had been fired.
Another department losing its manager is communications, with Julie Rogers set to leave her job at the end of the month. Council approved the hiring of an engagement specialist position for that department at a cost of $106,797.
Several enhancements for the parks department were approved: the hiring of a recreation event co-ordinator for $108,287, adding $100,000 to the budget for park events, the hiring of two arborists at a cost of $198,574, the purchase of a bucket truck for $575,000 and a commercial scale chipper for $126,500.
Dalio clarified that the arborists would likely not be hired until the bucket truck and chipper are purchased. Since those will likely have a long lead time, the financial impact of those hirings and purchases probably won’t be felt until 2026.
Coun. Cori Ramsay cited the funding gap that already exists for the city’s roads and an infrastructure report card citing 20 per cent of the city’s roads as being in poor condition in her decision to oppose the funding drop.
The initial proposal for the 2025 capital plan included around $56.3 million in spending, of which about $39.8 million was for reinvestment in existing assets and about $16.5 was for upgrades or new assets.
By the time council was done, only one item was eliminated from the capital plan after Sampson proposed the elimination of a purchase of two side-by-side vehicles and trailers for the use of bylaw officers at a cost of $180,000.
Staff said that items on the unfunded list of capital projects could be referred to the next committee of the whole for discussion through motions during budget talks. City manager Walter Babicz said at that meeting, staff will discuss the progress of those projects, what work still needs to be done and ask for direction on how to proceed.
Coun. Garth Frizzell referred a capital project to build a new home for the Little Prince miniature train.
Mayor Simon Yu put forward a motion to add roundabouts to University Way near UNBC and the intersection of Ospika Boulevard and Tyner Boulevard. He also asked that potential upgrades to the Civic Centre’s speaker system be investigated, saying he noticed the need during January’s 2025 BC Natural Resources Forum.
Coun. Cori Ramsay added a project to improve the greenbelt on Lower Patricia Boulevard to the list.
Now that the budget has been approved, council still has to pass bylaws approving the 2025 financial plan and tax rates. By provincial law, that must take place by May 15.
Keep an eye on The Citizen for more in-depth coverage of the 2025 city budget.
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