NCLGA membership fees prove controversial for PRRD, with renewal narrowly approved after debate

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A debate on the merits of membership to the local government association split the regional board of directors down the middle last week. 

During the August 14th meeting, the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) board of directors reviewed the latest invoice for membership fees to the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA), which sparked a heated discussion between the directors. 

The NCLGA is a non-profit advocacy association for elected officials and local governments from 100 Mile House to the B.C. border with the Yukon and Haida Gwaii to the B.C. border with Alberta. 

According to NCLGA, the association charges a base membership fee, with adjustments according to the member region’s population and hospital district budget. 

The August 14th letter included the complete membership fee list of all members of the NCLGA, which showed the PRRD was the second-highest paying member of the organization after Prince George, which will pay $31,787.08 for its membership in 2025/2026. 

The PRRD electoral areas will pay $19,756.72 for membership in NCLGA in 2025/2026, an increase of three per cent compared to previous years. 

According to the list, the non-electoral area members of the PRRD also pay separate membership fees to NCLGA. 

Fort St. John will pay $10,850.93; Dawson Creek will pay $6,113.85; Chetwynd’s fees will be $1,891.35; Hudson’s Hope will pay $1,027.27; Pouce Coupe will pay $814.79 and Tumbler Ridge will pay $2,013.81. 

In total, the NCLGA will collect $171,457.92 in membership fees for the 2025/2026 year from all of its member local governments. 

In total, the PRRD and its member local governments will pay $42,468.72 in NCLGA membership fees, and including the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality’s fees of $6,085.91, local governments in northeast B.C. will pay $48,554.63 for the 2025/2026 year. 

While some directors spoke positively about NCLGA and its annual general meeting, the electoral area directors opposed the fee payment and continued NCLGA membership both in discussions and during the vote, with directors such as Electoral Area B’s Reid Graham questioning if the membership was worth the money.

“I compare [our fees] to small towns that pay less than $1,000 that have the same amount of people attending the same meeting, and I feel like our upper east corner of the province is probably the most neglected in the province,” Graham said. 

“I’ve yet to hear a single thing or a single result from any of that…so I’m not totally against the whole thing, but I just don’t feel it’s fair that we’re paying the second-highest invoice of everyone on this list, and with what seems to be less representation.” 

Electoral Area E director Dan Rose expressed dissatisfaction with NCLGA, explaining he doesn’t believe it is worth the membership. 

“I’ve yet to see one thing, one positive thing, that this membership has brought us…it’s something in between us and [the Union of British Columbia Municipalities] UBCM,” Rose said

“As we continue to stretch and try to figure out where we find dollars to support people…and to build new facilities, I think we’ve got to look [at] the things that have the most value to them, and you can’t put a value on advocacy.

“…There’s nothing you can measure at NCLGA, concretely, that has a value to it compared to some of the other things we do.”

The PRRD board chair Leonard Hiebert vocalized a different opinion to the directors, noting the importance of the conversations NCLGA can lead to. 

“My point of view is if I’m not at the table having those discussions, or even at least instigating some of those discussions myself, I can’t really say that it wasn’t beneficial, because to me I had conversations that were definitely beneficial and led to other conversations connected to NCLGA,” Hiebert stated. 

Ultimately, the resulting vote concluded 6-4 in favour of renewing the membership, with the area directors and the District of Tumbler Ridge’s alternate director Luana Dusseault voting against and the other members, who represent districts and cities which are members of NCLGA in their own right, voting for the renewal.