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Council approves 2020 budget

Few major changes as council keeps tax levy increase close to inflation
City Council
City council approved the 2020 municipal budget Monday night. (Ian Kaufman, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – City council passed a largely status quo municipal budget for 2020 Monday night, after weeks of deliberation. The approved budget will see city spending increase by around $5.3 million from 2019, with the city’s tax levy going up by 1.89 per cent, after growth.

A $1.9 million boost to police funding was the biggest driver of increased spending. Other major contributors were a 27 per cent jump in the city’s insurance premiums, adding around $500,000, and provincial funding cuts.

The city found savings in reductions to the District Social Services Administration Board levy and the city transit budget (reflecting lower-than-budgeted actual spending in recent  years, the city says). It’s also raising additional revenue through increased user fees and changes to the Tbaytel dividend policy.

Over a series of budget meetings in January and February, council also made smaller tweaks that, combined, trimmed several hundred thousand dollars. That includes bringing more legal work in-house, eliminating a management position through attrition, and instituting a partial hiring freeze on vacant city positions (excluding many essential services). Other reductions came through simply reducing traditionally under-spent budget lines to reflect actuals.

All in all, that led to a budget that will keep tax increases for the average homeowner around the rate of inflation, without making major cuts to city services.

For mayor Bill Mauro, that struck an appropriate balance. He says the two budgets the current council has approved since taking office show an emphasis on fiscal restraint.

“I hope the community has realized through two budgets in 14 months with a lot of new councillors, we are very serious about trying to be responsible to the taxpayers,” he says. “I think through the two budget sessions we’ve now expressed that.”

The approved budget cut spending slightly from the draft version put forward by city administration in early January. That document would have seen an increase of just over $6 million to spending, with an increase in the tax levy of 2.32 per cent after growth. Council lowered that by over $800,000 to reach their 1.89 per cent levy increase.

Mauro says city administration’s blueprint did much of the heavy lifting, with council making only small changes. He says that’s a sign administration is on board with council’s focus on reining in spending.

“It shows we’ve conveyed a message,” he says. “Administration is doing their work up front, because they realize we’re very serious about this.”

Residents will see more significant increases to water and sewer rates, at 4% each. The city has estimated that will leave the average Thunder Bay household paying $1,235 in total for the two services in 2020. The city’s budget summary say those rates “remain affordable.”



Ian Kaufman

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