CFIB Muni Spending Report 2015 (Cariboo-Chilcotin Region)

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business or CFIB - BC Branch, released its' Municipal Spending Watch Report

In its' 2015 Version - it noted:

Only 6 out of the 152 municipalities (4%) examined in BC kept operating spending in line with inflation and population growth over the past decade. No large municipalities (population of 25,000 and over) made the list.

BC’s population grew by 13 per cent from 2003 to 2013. Over the same period, operating expenditures adjusted for inflation ballooned by 49 per cent – 3.75 times greater than population growth.

A reasonable rate of growth for a municipality is inflation and population growth. In BC, the excess spending above this level over the past ten years represents $8.2 billion dollars. What this means is a BC family of four could have saved on average $8,035 in municipal taxes had municipalities kept their spending in control.

In 2003, BC residents spent on average $959 dollars for the operations of their local government (total municipal operating spending divided by total BC population). In 2013, that dollar amount increased to $1,260 per person when adjusted to inflation, representing a 31 per cent increase in operating spending per capita in BC.

BC’s major centres, Vancouver and Victoria, increased their operating spending by 29 and 28 per cent respectively from 2003 – 2013 after adjusting for inflation and population growth.

The full report can be viewed here.  While Regional Districts' in BC are not ranked, due to their unique nature of how they operate, find below the ranking of muncipalities within the Cariboo-Chilcotin Region:

100 Mile House:

This year's ranking -  #20 out of 152 muncipalities
Last year's ranking - #26 out of 152 muncipalities

2000-2012 Real Operating Spending per Capita Growth -- minus 4%
2012 Operating Spending per capital - $1,324

Quesnel:

This year's ranking -  #53 out of 152 muncipalities
Last year's ranking - # 52 out of 152 muncipalities

2000-2012 Real Operating Spending per Capita Growth -- 9%
2012 Operating Spending per capital - $1,833

Williams Lake:

This year's ranking -  #94 out of 152 muncipalities
Last year's ranking - #99 out of 152 muncipalities

2000-2012 Real Operating Spending per Capita Growth -- 32%
2012 Operating Spending per capital - $1,916

Wells:

This year's ranking -  #140 out of 152 muncipalities
Last year's ranking - #146 out of 152 muncipalities

2000-2012 Real Operating Spending per Capita Growth -- 41%
2012 Operating Spending per capital - $3,352

They noted that the District of Wells appears to have begun addressing their spending problem while 100 Mile House was the only municipality in the region to keep spending in line with population and inflation growth over the past 10 years.

The worst ranked municipality in BC was the District of Stewart with per capita spending of $5,018 per person and despite a population decline of 30 per cent over the last 10 years, real operating spending per capita grew by 116%

~SF