BC Municipal Spending Watch 2011
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BC Municipal Spending Watch 2011
Full report
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business' (CFIB) fourth annual BC Municipal Spending Watch reveals a new ranking system and a worsening picture of local government spending.
Municipal Operating Spending
BC Municipal Operating Spending Growth (Adjusted for Inflation) and Population Growth, 2000-2009
The latest report shows municipal operating spending, adjusted for inflation, has ballooned to nearly four times the rate of population growth in BC.
While spending is tracked over a decade, from 2000-2009, this year's report also shows that the biggest operating spending increases have come in the most recent years. In 2009 the province's municipal operating spending totaled $4.4 billion, up $339 million from the year before.
Other findings:
- Funding transfers from other levels of government to municipalities have more than tripled in the last decade, rising 214% between 2000-2009
- Municipalities more than doubled the revenue they make from Sales of Services - everything from parking fees to business licenses.
- Vacation and destination communities are some of BC's freest spending offenders, putting crippling pressure on their smaller year-round populations.
- In communities where population is shrinking, local governments are spending more, not the same or less.
- A family of four in Lytton might have saved $42,175 over ten years, had that municipality held its operating spending to the rate of growth in population and inflation between 2000-2009.
This is a wake-up call to taxpayers. It's time to demand more accountability from municipal governments.
