Budget first look

The city is neglecting its roads, a city councillor said after looking at the proposed 2011 municipal budget.

Coun. Linda Rydholm said just like previous budgets, the latest financial plan for the city appears like it won't include enough to repair the city's transportation infrastructure. Although the municipal engineering department reports the city spends $10 million a year on road resurfacing, the budget recommends $5.8 million, Rydholm said.

"It’s just not right. We cannot ignore our roads any longer. More money should be spent in road resurfacing," she said. "People’s cars are damaged, there’s poor water drainage.

"The road bed is damaged faster when we don’t keep up with the good maintenance and new asphalt."

The proposed 2011 tax-supported operating budget is slightly less than $200.7 million. At-large Coun. Ken Boshcoff said council received the preliminary budget on Thursday morning, adding he and his fellow councilors will be spending a lot of time studying it over the weekend.

Although city treasurer Carol Busch won’t be releasing tax levy information until Friday morning, the proposed budget appears to show a 2.24 per cent increase in tax revenue.

Boshcoff said he would like the city to keep a tax increase to around one per cent.

"Somewhere in that zone," Boshcoff said. "Zero would make me happiest."

Boshcoff said the city’s largest challenge when reining in spending is the budgets of Thunder Bay’s numerous outside boards that council has less control over.

As for the $10 million recommended for roads, Boshcoff said climate and urban sprawl contribute to the shape of the city’s roads, but it’s a matter of whether people want higher taxes to pay for infrastructure upkeep.

"You can’t have extra spending and a lean machine," Boshcoff said. "That number and that issue in particular emphasizes the difference between what we should be doing and what we are financially capable of doing. So now it becomes a political decision. If you go for the whole boar in terms of what's recommended, you’re going to have a large tax increase."

But with the city expected to receive millions from HST rebates, Rydholm said the city can afford to put more into its roads.

Council will hold its first public budget discussion during a special open session on Tuesday night at city hall.