The public had a chance to give their input on the city's infrastructure priorities Wednesday.
City manager Tim Commisso led a public information session on Thunder Bay's infrastructure needs with city treasurer and manager of general finance Carol Pollard at the Community Auditorium.
The session was the first step in the 2014 municipal budget process.
Commisso outlined the city's plan to renew infrastructure through incremental spending.
Earlier this month, council received a first report listing almost $150 million in capital projects for the next five years from the second phase of the Golf Links-Junot corridor to more than $2 million worth of upgrades to the Conservatory.
Commisso and Pollard will suggest to council the city look for more sources for the Renew Thunder Bay fund like the dividends the city receives from TBayTel and the Thunder Bay Hydro renewable energy projects. However, the city would have to take on some debt to meet these infrastructure needs.
James Williams doesn't mind taking on some debt if the projects are done right and within budget.
He's also proud of some the changes that have been made in the city in recent years.
"I'm a big fan of what's happening downtown in Port Arthur at the waterfront," he said.
"Downtown Port Arthur is the place to be," he said, adding this Saturday it's estimated there will be 4,000 people in the north core for the Halloween event, The Hunger.
"I think that's a positive thing and going in the right direction."
Lucas Johnson is interested in active transportation and the city's urban design guideline.
"I'd just like to see a better balance of transportation options," he said.
"Taking cycling and transit buses more seriously and also changing land use planning a little bit so we're taking our new urban design guidelines and changing the way the buildings interact with the streetscape."
Johnson is also OK with taking on debt to balance the budget over time.
"You take a big project and then you pay for that project for the lifetime of the infrastructure," he said.
He also sees projects like the multiplex as a valuable investment.
"I don't see necessarily why we shouldn't be building these things especially if we have buy-in from other levels of government," he said. "I think that's a good sort of investment for us to be making."
Council will receive the infrastructure priorities list and a budget directions update Monday.
