In a meeting that spanned just 21 minutes, the 2020 budget was given the final stamp of approval by Prince George City Council.

However, it was not a unanimous decision, passing 7-2.

Councillors Brian Skakun and Kyle Sampson again stated they felt the levy should have been lower.

After several meetings that spanned as far back as January, where Council was looking at a 3.44 per cent increase, they eventually settled on a 1.75 per cent raise instead.

“Councillor Samson and I never changed our position on that. We thought we could go lower than 1.75 per cent, so we voted no on that for the final reading,” said Skakun, who was hoping to get the increase below one.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic forced Council to go back to the drawing board to deal with revenue losses of about a million dollars per month.

“We didn’t have agreement on all the pieces, but we got through an extremely difficult process in a very thoughtful but decisive manner,” stated Councillor Garth Frizzell in the meeting.

A balanced budget must be submitted to the province by Friday (May 15th).