4th Annual CFIB Municipal Spending Watch Report..

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business or CFIB has just released their 4th Annual 'Municipal Spending Watch' Report of which you can read the full report here

For the local municipalities of Wells, Quesnel, Williams Lake and 100 Mile, the CFIB says:

Wells:

Population Growth - 7%
Operational Spending Growth - 64%
Operational Spending Growth per capita - 40%
Provincial Rank (1 being worst, 153 being best) - 40th

Quesnel:

Population Growth - minus 5%

Operational Spending Growth - 18%

Operational Spending Growth per capita - 24%

Provincial Rank (1 being worst, 153 being best) - 110th

Williams Lake:

Population Growth - minus 5%

Operational Spending Growth - 29%

Operational Spending Growth per capita - 36%

Provincial Rank (1 being worst, 153 being best) - 71st 

100 Mile House:

Population Growth - 5%

Operational Spending Growth - 18%

Operational Spending Growth per capita - 12%

Provincial Rank (1 being worst, 153 being best) - 129th

The CFIB has recommended the following:

1) Limit Operational spending increases to rate of population growth and inflation (currently 2.3%).  To do this, CFIB suggests that municipalities that have not, should define their core services (ie: Police, Fire, Snow Removal, Water/Sewer/Garbage) and undertake core service reviews, introduce zero-based budgeting (Note - Walt Cobb says he'll do this if he is elected WL Mayor on Saturday), and work to align public sector compensation (wages) with wages for comparable work in private sector

2) Support the creation of a Municipal Auditor-General.  The success of a Municipal Auditor-General will be  seen with the full cooperation of the municipalities themselves