THUNDER BAY -- The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president is asking city council to consider leaving some of its business to the business community.
That includes beginning a discussion about the city divesting itself of daycare, Chippewa Park and its two municipal golf courses.
When city council was considering its 2016 budget, Charla Robinson said the business community could accept a 2.5 per cent levy increase. Robinson will not give a figure as council begins work on the 2017 budget, claiming "tough decisions" need to be made.
"The fat is gone," she said.
"There are very few easy changes to make that would result in any significant reductions in the operating budget so now we're really getting into a time when we need to have some tough conversations as a community about what level of service do we require and are we willing to pay for that level of service?"
While Robinson conceded she counts some private golf courses in the city among the chamber's members, she advocated for the public courses to be sold as the private sector doesn't need the city to make the industry profitable.
"Do we want to continue to put half a million dollars into golf when we could be putting half a million dollars into something else that could be an essential service that is perhaps going to be suffering because of the financial challenges?" Robinson asked.
"It becomes a need-to-have versus a want-to-have kind of discussion and that's really where we're getting to be.I think if you compared golf to some of the essential services we expect from a city, it's nice to have but it's not necessarily need-to-have."
Robinson praised city council's decision to extend the budget season to four months beginning in October instead of two weeks in February. She pointed out, however, that the process of municipal asset divestment takes even more time.
The city closed Municipal Golf Course for a year before it sold for $650,000 in 2013. In February, Mayor Keith Hobbs said he hoped to have a plan to sell Strathcona Golf Course in the 2017 budget but no process has yet been put in motion to do so.
"If you're not having (these conversations) today, nothing's going to change for the next year or two years," Robinson said.
"We're basically guaranteeing these cost are going to continue for the next two years. What does that mean?"
