What will Thunder Bay's 2024 budget look like? Officials to release first draft today
CBC
Thunder Bay officials will release their first draft of the 2024 city budget Friday, offering the first look at the numbers and kicking off what's expected to be a challenging budget process.
The month-long budget approval process will almost certainly bring changes to what's released this morning, but councillors have directed administration to keep any tax levy increase to 5.5 per cent or less.
City manager Norm Gale and Keri Greaves, the city's treasurer will present the proposed budget at 11 a.m. and CBC News will be updating this story throughout the day.
Gale has signaled that this will be a challenging budget with infrastructure spending and emergency funding expected to be key issues. The Thunder Bay Police Services Board is seeking a $54.6 million operations budget and a $2.8 million capital budget for the police this year.
This is also the first budget to come after Mayor Ken Boshcoff gained strong-mayor powers from the province, which grants him more authority to act unilaterally during the budget process in an effort to build more housing.
In the fall, Boshcoff issued a notice saying he does not intend to exercise strong mayor powers with respect to proposing and adopting the 2024 budget, delegating those tasks to Gale and Greaves, instead. However, he could always change his mind. The city must notify the public whenever the mayor puts his strong mayor powers to use.
Last year's tax levy was a 4.4 per cent increase, which came with a suite of cuts to staffing and services and included a one-time infusion of funds from a reserve fund.
Simply put, the tax levy is the amount the city needs from taxpayers to fund city services and capital infrastructure programs and is not necessarily a reflection of the tax hikes facing taxpayers.
Once the draft is released there will be a few key dates coming up before the ratification votes are held in February:
You can check back in with this story as we'll be updating it throughout the day with the latest information on the proposed budget.
A Brampton lawyer allegedly connected to fugitive Ryan Wedding was granted bail Tuesday morning by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Rankin Inlet hamlet councillors recently passed a motion that has had them avoid drinking alcohol for the 12 days leading up to Christmas, with the goal of setting a positive example for the community.
Jason Jacques says he learned a lot about the importance of choosing his words carefully in his first few months as the interim parliamentary budget officer (PBO).
Durham police say a man is dead after suffering multiple stab wounds in Oshawa Tuesday morning.
An internal review of technical outages that caused significant delays at airports and international land borders this fall has exposed critical flaws with the Canada Border Services Agency's IT services.
Two people are in life-threatening condition after being pulled from a house fire in Scarborough Tuesday morning, according to Toronto Fire Services.
Whenever the door opens at the British Grenadier Bookshop, proprietor Steve Douglas doesn’t know who is going to walk through.
A northeastern Ontario potato farmer says he’s shipping more bags of potatoes to southern Ontario to make up for waning demand.
Halifax’s registry of rental properties is now available to the public online, showing what HRM staff believe are the “bulk” of rentals in the city.
A New Brunswick tenant says he’s being pushed out of his rented bungalow as retribution for complaining about his landlord, but his landlord says she’s the victim of an unfair tenancy tribunal ruling that is preventing her from using the unit to house family.
Snow and freezing rain could affect morning commutes on Tuesday, according to a special weather statement issued by Environment Canada.
Daniel Jolivet, 68, had his first taste of freedom this weekend after spending the last 33 years behind bars.
Peguis First Nation is suing former chief Glenn Hudson over allegations he failed to act in the best interest of the band and financially benefitted from breaches of duty — including claims that he enriched himself, his family and supporters.