Council lowers projected 2024 tax levy, but tough decisions remain

Thunder Bay City Council lowered the projected 2024 tax levy increase slightly on Monday, amid warnings that some tough decisions may need to be made.

City administration presented council with its annual budget directions report on Monday. The report is essentially a snapshot of the city's finances based on all available information.

In the report, city administration was recommending council target a tax levy increase of six per cent in 2024; that came down to 5.5 per cent thanks to an amendment tabled by McKellar Ward Coun. Brian Hamilton (that amount could still change, as 2024 budget deliberations haven't begun and council has not made any final decisions yet).

"The amendment that I tabled [Monday] night was specific to just making sure that we can find that balance between taxation and service levels," Hamilton said. "We know — through my time at council anyway through the last several years — that we can't do this on budget cuts alone."

Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds said there are a number of financial pressures on the city, and not all of them are things the city itself can control.

"We know that there's going to be an ask from the Thunder Bay District Health Unit that's going to be an increase," he said. "We don't have much control over that. We know that police costs are going up. There isn't a lot of control over that."

"We know we have to implement a green bin program that the province is mandating. We have to do that. So there are some challenges on the horizon, and I think council's decision last night reflects those challenges and also recognizes that we need to do a little bit of heavy lifting now and not kick the can down the road."

According to the report presented Monday, a half per cent decrease in the tax levy means the city will need to find $1.1 million in net operational savings elsewhere.

Northwood Coun. Dominic Pasqualino said the city will need to look at increasing its revenue.

"It's not just going to come from the two other levels of government," he said. "It's going to have to happen by growing the city, which we really haven't done for 40 years."

"Our population has diminished, our industries have diminished," Pasqualino said. "I've been the union president of the Bombardier plant, Alstom now, and we've gone from 1,300 people to, probably in our union we're looking at about 250 people right now."

"So for over 1,000 people, that place is closed and that's hurting them, because they can't afford to pay their taxes if they're not working," he said. "But also the plant pays less taxes because it's not utilizing as much as it can, plus all the other spinoff businesses."

Meanwhile, Hamilton said, capital projects and infrastructure need funding.

"The spends on infrastructure aren't solely about building nice roads," he said. "It's about actually ensuring long-term financial sustainability, because when we don't properly fund our infrastructure, it ends up costing us more long-term."