FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Prince George, B.C. – After two long days of deliberations, City Council passed the 2026 tax levy that equals an increase of approximately $144 per average representative home (valued at $467,684) or 4.94 per cent.
“This was a difficult budget cycle and the deliberations were thorough. Ultimately, a lot of hard decisions had to be made to reduce the proposed 6.15 per cent,” said Mayor Simon Yu.
“Our focus as a council is on balancing the need for services to be maintained in anticipation of continued population growth, but also taking into consideration that there are large segments of the population facing affordability issues. I am satisfied we did our best to meet all these conflicting priorities. We appreciate the feedback from our residents and anyone who took to the time to participate in this process.”
An overview of City finances presented to Council by Administration on Monday, January 26, revealed the extent that Prince George’s substantial geographic footprint and the need to maintain aging infrastructure intended for a far larger community, present ongoing financial challenges to the City budget.
Other significant impacts highlighted were the RCMP contract with the City funding 130 positions, transit increases as per the City’s Annual Operating Agreement with BC Transit, and increased stormwater costs including crushed gravel, asphalt, concrete and culvert pipes. Other impacts noted were increases to grant funding as part of a three-year cycle, and a decrease in anticipated investment revenue due to the decrease in Bank of Canada rate.
Positive impacts to the budget that were noted are the increases in PG Events Group net revenue and the Development Services revenue.
Revenue collected through the levy will sustain current service levels and operational needs. The 2026 Financial Plan provides for general operating expenditures of approximately $185.9 million (with the tax levy increase of 4.94 per cent).
Notable amendments approved by Council during the meeting include:
- A 1 per cent cut, or $10,532, to the Legislative Services budget.
- Cutting the continuous improvement program at a savings of $149,546.
- A reduction of the snow removal budget of $1,200,000 (with no plans to change the service level) so the 2026 budget is set at $9.8 million.
- A reduction to the road rehabilitation budget of $150,000
- Adding one additional relief firefighter at a cost of $132,354
- The creation of a $50,000 Seniors Grant Stream added to the Civic Initiatives and Partnerships budget. The $50,000 will be funded in 2026 through $25,000 from the Council Contingency Fund and $25,000 out of the Major Events Reserve. An additional $10,000 was approved to be donated to the Senior Centres Sustainability Fund at the Prince George Community Foundation.
Two other service enhancements were deferred, one to the 2027 budget cycle for the Recruitment and Retention Advisor in HR and one to go back to staff to see if there’s opportunity for job sharing with the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George for the proposed Arts, Culture and Heritage Coordinator role.
When residents receive their tax bill, only 70 per cent of the amount is for services provided by the City of Prince George. The City collects the remaining 30 per cent on behalf of non-municipal authorities like:
- The Province of BC for school taxes
- The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George
- The Regional 911- service
- The Fraser-Fort George Regional Hospital
- BC Assessment
- The Municipal Finance Authority
The next step for council from here is to deliberate on the tax rates per property value and class (residential/business/industrial). This process begins on February 18 at the next Finance & Audit committee meeting.
Additional information and resources are available here. The agenda for the budget meetings with all department budgets can be found here.
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Media contact:
Kendall Robertson, senior communications advisor
Mobile: 778-349-5393
Email: media@princegeorge.ca