Between 2000 and 2009, B.C.’s population grew 12 per cent, while municipal operating spending, adjusted for inflation, grew by 46 per cent, according to the fourth annual B.C. Municipal Spending Watch, released today.

“We’re seeing local governments spending more than ever, faster than ever,” said Shachi Kurl, CFIB’s director of provincial affairs, BC & Yukon.

In response to the CFIB’s 2010 report, which complained of a “giant free-for-all” involving taxpayers’ dollars, the Union of B.C. Municipalities argued that over the past 20 years, there’s been a huge number of costs driving up municipal spending, including police and parks and recreation.

Municipalities have also complained about having to increase taxes because of downloading from senior governments, for such things as water and sewage treatment.

The report was based on the rate at which local government has spent on services over a decade, and the dollar amount every citizen paid for local government spending increases in the last year. It did not examine expenditures for capital budgets, regional districts or TransLink.

Operating costs, which include salaries and benefits and provision of municipal services, are financed largely through property taxes and user fees.

But the report noted that municipal revenues from sales of services — everything from parking fees to business licences — have more than doubled over the decade.

As well, Kurl said, municipalities have seen a 214-per-cent increase in revenues from government transfers over the decade, at the same time they have been complaining about downloading by senior governments.

CFIB says municipalities should limit operating spending increases to the rate of population and inflation growth and conduct reviews to trim spending. It also urges the creation of an independent municipal auditor-general to hold municipalities accountable.

Kurl said labour costs are a big driver in operating costs, and municipalities must do more to ensure they’re getting better value for money such as negotiating more reasonable contracts.

The CFIB, which calls itself the big voice for small businesses, has also urged civic candidates running in this month’s civic elections to sign a pledge to narrow the gap between residential property rates and commercial rates, which are always significantly higher.

“Municipalities are facing cost pressures but it’s not the government that pays for stuff ...,” Kurl said. “It’s the taxpayer ultimately who faces the pressures and it’s up to government to mitigate those pressures by making tough decisions.”

Penticton, Langford and West Vancouver were ranked as B.C.’s worst municipalities in terms of maintaining sustainable operating spending and growth in 2009, although the report noted Penticton is making strides to improve its situation.

No municipalities in the Lower Mainland were able to maintain operating spending growth at sustainable rates for the period from 2000 to 2009, the report added.

B.C.’s biggest municipalities spent on average $1,290 per person in operating costs in 2009. That’s a 37-per-cent increase in real operating spending — the per capita amount adjusted for inflation — from 2000 to 2009.

In West Vancouver, per capita operating spending was at $1,850 in 2009. The city’s real operating spending per capita has increased 42 per cent since 2000, the report said, which means a family of four could have saved $8,596 if operating spending had been kept to inflation and population growth.

Transportation and transit expenses were excluded from West Vancouver’s statistics because there was a dramatic change in these expenses after 2000 and the figures would have skewed the numbers, the report noted.

In Vancouver, which saw an 11-per-cent increase in population between 2000 and 2009, real operating spending per capita rose 25 per cent. That means families of four in Vancouver would have saved $4,787 if operating spending had been restrained to sustainable levels, the report said.

“Every municipality in B.C. can do better, but some will need to make more effort than others to ensure operating spending growth and levels are monitored and controlled appropriately,” the report said.

“Taxpayers can’t afford to pay for spending that continues to outpace reasonable benchmarks like population and inflation growth.”

The report noted spending has been rising continually, most notably in 2008-09 — the latest year data was available. In 2009, total B.C. municipal operating spending was $4.4 billion, up $339 million from the previous year.