The city wants the public’s help to direct its upcoming budget.
Meetings will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m.at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium to get feedback on a proposed budget plan to tackle the $15 million per year infrastructure deficit the city is facing.
City council was presented with various plans last month on how to address the deficit. Mayor Keith Hobbs said while one option includes paying $12 million every year to get the city’s infrastructure in shape, it might not be enough.
”I think that number actually needs to be higher to keep up with it. 12 million just keeps the status quo with a little bit of improvement,” Hobbs said Monday afternoon.
Hobbs said he wants hundreds of people to attend the first-ever meeting. The more people providing feedback allows for the city to gauge what the public wants to see its money spent on.
“We hear complaints about the way tax dollars are being spent so this is the opportunity for people to have their say” Hobbs said.
“If a lot of people don’t show up I tend to think we’re doing ok so Id’ like lots of people to show up and tell us either we’re doing ok or ‘you’re not doing ok, this is what we’d like to see you focused on’.”
