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Jamie Smith, tbnewswatch.com
Keely Banning speaks to city council about the conservatory Tuesday night.
The city needs to do more to keep its costs down some residents say while others want the city to spend.
Council heard seven deputations during its pre-budget consultation meeting Tuesday night.
“I’m here to complain about the increases,” Joanne Richard told council bluntly.
Richard said taxes and water rates have increased almost every year in the 20 years that she’s owned her home. And from family to co-workers, she said she’s heard nothing but frustration and anger from people who feel that the cost of living is too high. Council is not hearing from the average person because they are too busy to show up to meetings.
“It’s like council doesn’t think of the average citizen,” she said. “You’re not hearing most people’s opinions here. Hardly anybody comes to these meetings.”
Richard suggested that the city put a questionnaire about the budget into tax bills. She then said the city should consider user fees on everything from rinks to libraries to cover costs.
Former Current River Ward candidate Andy Wolff suggested that the city review a department every month as a way to find savings. He then said every city employee making $100,000 a year or more should accept a wage freeze.
“If they are serving the city then they should take one for the team,” he said.
A group called Save the Thunder Bay Conservatory: Don’t Pave Paradise, which currently has 844 members on Facebook, made a plea to council to think of the benefits the city’s 44-year-old conservatory has brought to Thunder Bay. And although it’s losing $600,000 a year, group founder Keely Banning said the conservatory isn’t about making money.
“It was never intended as a moneymaking project,” she said. “It was intended as an indoor green space.”
But if the city does want it to generate more revenue, Banning said members have made plenty of suggestions online from putting a café into the space, to turning it into a butterfly or bird park. Others have suggested charging a small annual membership fee to keep the building open.
“We’re open to many different possibilities right now,” she said.
Councillors cautioned that no report has surfaced with any recommendation about the conservatory but asked Banning if her group would support up to $3 million to renovate the facility and raise taxes. Banning said based on her research so far, there are plenty of grants available the city could apply for to keep costs down.
“There is money out there,” she said.
Council begins budget deliberations Wednesday.
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