CFIB calls municipal spending ‘out of control’
Posted December 5, 2012 9:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is calling on municipalities to get spending under control.
In its latest report, crunching numbers between 2000 and 2010, the CFIB says municipal spending outpaces the benchmark of population growth plus inflation.
According to the report, there is a glimmer of optimism, for the first time in ten years, there are signs that some BC municipalities understand they need to tighten the purse strings.
“If municipalities had increased their spending, but kept increases in-line with population growth and inflation, we would have saved, across the province, $4.26 billion.”
Jones says that would have put $4,200 in the family bank account over the ten years between 2000 and 2010.
Instead, BC municipalities spent nearly four times the growth in population, representing a 49 per cent increase. CFIB says when these numbers are adjusted for inflation, spending increased by just one per cent from 2009 to 2010, down from seven per cent between 2008 and 2009.
Jones says politicians in places like Langley City and Township, as well as Abbotsford, continue to overspend.
Chilliwack, Burnaby, and Surrey topped the “most improved” list.
