The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George Board of Directors have approved the 2024 Operating Budget and Five-Year Financial Plan.
The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George provides 92 services to residents of its seven electoral areas and to the City of Prince George, District of Mackenzie, Village of Valemount and Village of McBride.
Expenditures (operating and capital) for the Regional District in 2024 will total $57.4 million. Of the $57.4 million, $22.6 million will be funded through property taxation, which is an increase of $1,148,241 or 5.35% over 2023. Most of the other funding for the 2024 budget comes in the form of grants, user fees and use of reserve funds.
Significant 2024 budgeted expenditures provided by the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George include Environmental Health ($21.4 million), Public Health and Welfare ($9.96 million), Protective Services ($7.6 million) and Recreation and Cultural Services ($6.6 million).
“The 2024 budget is a reflection of rising financial pressures resulting from inflation, regulatory requirements and asset management. The budget strives to find the balance between managing these costs along with strategic investments in capital projects in services such as solid waste management and 9-1-1 emergency response,” says Regional District Chair Lara Beckett.
Beckett notes that an increase or decrease in the overall requisition does not always translate to what residents will see reflected on their tax bill. The budget can affect communities in the region differently depending on a number of variables such as services provided to that area, fluctuations in property assessments and a change in the amount of residential or commercial properties that share in the funding of a particular service.
Regional District taxes per $100,000 of residential assessment decreased in all municipalities and electoral areas for 2024, except Prince George and Electoral Area E. In Prince George, the taxes increased 0.7% to $41.79 per $100,000 residential assessment. In Electoral Area E, taxes are up 4.2% to $128.83 per $100,000 residential assessment. Valemount will see decrease of 3.2% at $182.84 per $100,000 residential assessment. McBride will see a 2.1% decrease at $313.27 and Mackenzie will see a 0.8% decrease at $48.84 per $100,000 residential assessment.
However, a decrease in the tax rate per $100,000 of residential assessment may not result in a decrease on the tax bill for many homeowners in the region. The average increase region-wide in property assessment was 5.07%, meaning that the overall amount homeowners are taxed on may have increased.