THUNDER BAY -- The city has seen the effect of zero per cent tax increases in the past, and it isn’t a road the current council is prepared to travel.
Administration in Sudbury has proposed a zero per cent levy increase, a proposal that comes with $8.4 million in cuts in that city's budget.
Sudbury’s strategy would see the northeastern city dip into reserves and defer infrastructure spending. Mayor Keith Hobbs said while he wants to see Thunder Bay's proposed increase come down from 6.3 per cent to at least 3.5 by the time its budget is passed, a zero just isn't responsible planning for the city.
"When you ignore infrastructure you pay for it later and you pay a lot more for it," Hobbs said.
"People griping about taxes now, their kids and their grandkids are going to pay the price if we ignore it. Unfortunately it was ignored for years, we caught up."
City manager Tim Commisso said he'll be looking over Sudbury's proposal but when you start to make cuts like that, they tend to be short-term gains, like pulling $2 million out of reserves.
"That doesn't take a lot of strategic thinking it's just putting money in place to get by the year and then next year you have to decide what you're going to do because you can't keep doing that," he said.
Coun. Andrew Foulds said there's no doubt Thunder Bay is in for a tough budget season, which begins Wednesday night, but cities across the province have to realize how much of a challenge they're in for and try to find a balance. Whether a budget is proposed with a zero or a three per cent increase, councillors have to look at the effect their decisions will have.
"To not acknowledge those challenges is frankly naive," he said.
"I wasn't elected to make easy decisions. I wasn't elected to sort of punt problems to future councils or future generations. I was elected to make tough decisions."
For budget chair Frank Pullia, the only way he'd ever like to see a zero per cent increase is if the city's growth was enough to make sure Thunder Bay maintained the same level of spending and services.
