To the Editor,
When Renew Thunder Bay was presented by the city manager in November of 2009, it appeared that road infrastructure in the city of Thunder Bay was being addressed.
The plan noted that “spending on roadways has increased approximately 100 per cent since 2004, in large part due to additional Federal and Provincial funding support (i.e. Dedicated Gas Tax funding).” A chart in that plan showed that $17.3 million was spent on roadways in 2008.
Last year, taxpayers were alerted to cries from our city council and administration that our road infrastructure is falling behind and a new dedicated tax called the EIRP (Enhanced Infrastructure Renewal Plan) was introduced to address this issue.
That the roads in the city of Thunder Bay are in poor condition, no doubt may explain the increase of deer in the city, which probably cannot distinguish the roads from paths in the bush. I couldn’t help but digress.
To ensure that the Dedicated Gas Tax funding, if available, continues to be directed to roads, I emailed council and administration numerous times to update the chart in the Renew plan to show the total capital spending on roads from all sources for the years 2009 and 2010.
I also asked that the chart show the projected total capital expenditures with the proposed dedicated tax for the EIRP fund. One may as well ask the deer for a proper answer.
My concern is that by council passing this proposed dedicated tax increase for the EIRP fund, money from the Dedicated Gas Tax funding will be redirected for other projects, and may be the reason why administration is reluctant to update Chart 1 in the Renew plan that I asked for at the open house on Oct.25 when information on the proposed budget directions report was presented for feedback.
Some accountability and transparency on total capital spending on roadways since 2008, from council or administration would be appreciated; to justify the extra $6.1million they are seeking from taxpayers for 2012 to balance the budget.
Henry Wojak,
Thunder Bay
