THUNDER BAY – The City of Thunder Bay’s 2022 budget may not be the first thing on residents’ minds as summer officially begins with an encouraging dip in COVID-19 cases.
That didn’t stop city staff and a handful of engaged citizens from kicking off the months-long process to set next year’s municipal budget at a virtual town hall Tuesday evening.
The meeting featured a high-level overview of city finances from top bureaucrats, and the chance for residents to ask their own questions, only six of which were submitted.
Residents can fill out the city’s pre-budget survey online until June 29. A summary of those comments is presented to city councillors, and is meaningful, said Coun. Mark Bentz, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting.
“We do read them, we do listen,” he said.
The municipal government had weathered the pandemic surprisingly well financially, Bentz said, largely due to provincial and federal support.
The financial impacts of COVID-19 are expected to continue into 2022, in the form of lower transit and recreation revenue, and added expenses for PPE, staffing, and cleaning.
Most of that will be blunted this year, with a projected $5.4 million impact largely covered by $4.3 million in safe restart funding left over from 2020.
City treasurer Linda Evans reviewed the state of the city’s finances. Of a gross tax-supported operating budget of roughly $360 million, the city spends over half on public safety and public works, she said.
The development and emergency services department receives the largest share at 20 per cent. The department includes Thunder Bay Fire Rescue, Superior North EMS, planning, realty, and building services, and licensing and enforcement.
Another 19 per cent goes to the community services department, which includes transit, recreation and culture, asset management, and a wide range of other programs and services.
The Thunder Bay Police Service is the next-largest expense, accounting for 17 per cent of tax-supported spending.
Evans said that matches feedback in the most recent citizen survey in 2019, in which residents placed the highest importance on emergency services, road maintenance, and snow removal.
Bentz highlighted the city’s yawning infrastructure gap, the estimated yearly shortfall in funding required to properly maintain city assets.
The City of Thunder Bay’s infrastructure gap is estimated at over $20 million every year. That’s not counting another $7 million in rate-supported operations like water, waste water, and solid waste, said Bentz.
“Thunder Bay is not alone in this – it’s been a struggle for all municipalities,” he told viewers.
This year's capital budget included a gross increase of eight per cent over 2020, said Evans, a step toward closing that gap
The 2022 capital budget envelope will also include a one-time $2.8 million increase, thanks to a 2020 year-end surplus.
Residents submitted six questions that were read by city staff.
One resident asked why the city’s staffing levels appear to be much higher than other Ontario municipalities with comparable populations, pointing to an unnamed study.
Thunder Bay far outstripped municipalities like Kingston, Cambridge, Guelph, Waterloo, and Whitby in the number of employees on Ontario’s sunshine list, the questioner said.
City manager Norm Gale questioned the question's premise.
“I don’t know whether the analysis made by the questioner is correct… but I will say this, the comparators are problematic,” he said. “Of the cities cited, [most] are what are referred to in Ontario as lower tier municipalities.”
As a single-tier municipality, Thunder Bay is responsible for delivering police, fire, and paramedic services, where lower tier municipalities deliver only fire services, Gale said.
“Thunder Bay’s numbers [on the Sunshine List] are dominated by emergency services,” he said. “But for paramedic and police services, city staffing levels have remained stable for the past six or 10 years.”
All three emergency services have more staff per capita than comparable services elsewhere, Gale acknowledged, but said in many cases that responds to different service needs.
The city has paramedics on its payroll who deliver services to other municipalities across the Thunder Bay District, for example (district municipalities contribute to EMS costs).
Other residents in outlying areas of the city asked why they received a lower standard of services, primarily road maintenance, despite paying comparable taxes.
“I realize there are costs involved preparing and paving a road, but what I pay in taxes justifies a safe roadway that the majority of city residents already have,” said one young mother living on Government Road.
A Granite Road resident asked when the city would pave roads in North McIntyre, saying dirt roads resulted in a neighbourhood covered in dust.
Director of engineering and operations Kayla Dixon said the city had a detailed system that determined maintenance levels, approved in 2016 by city council.
Municipal taxes are structured based on property value, not services received, said director of revenue Kathleen Cannon.
“Property taxes are not quid pro quo,” said Gale, more bluntly.
However, those residents wouldn't be charged special rates for items like street lights, transit, sewers, and land drainage apply, Cannon noted.
City council will provide direction to administration at a July 26 meeting as it crafts the 2022 budget.
Last year, for example, council directed administration to limit the tax levy increase to a maximum of two per cent in its 2021 draft budget, and to exclude COVID-19 costs from the budget.
The draft budget prepared by staff will be released to the public on Jan. 4 of 2022, with a first public pre-budget deputation meeting on Jan. 13.
A vote for final approval of the budget is set for Feb. 7.
