THUNDER BAY – City council has deferred a decision on a number of controversial proposed service cuts after facing public blow-back, instead ordering further consultation.
Council tentatively approved nearly two dozen cuts to next year’s budget on Monday, but voted to set aside some that generated the fiercest opposition until at least August.
The proposed cuts that will go out for consultation include the closure of the Neebing Memorial Arena and most of the city’s outdoor rinks, cancellation of the 4-Neebing and 6-Mission bus routes,
Council also directed further consultation before cutting the city’s heritage committee and sister cities program.
Among the 22 cuts council did ink into the 2024 budget in a vote Monday: eliminating events fireworks and movie nights, reducing the playgrounds program to six sites, ending maintenance at 13 parkettes, cutting a Current River EMS station, reducing hours at Widnall and Heath outdoor pools, scaling back litter pick-up, and pulling funding for EcoSuperior’s waste awareness week programming.
All told, those cuts will bring roughly $513,000 in annual savings, while those going out for further consultation could bring around $1 million.
Administration prepared the list of proposed cuts in response to council’s direction earlier this year to find $2.2 million in permanent staffing and service reductions in the 2024 budget, without specifying where those should fall.
“This was a gruelling exercise,” city manager Norm Gale told council. “We knew we would please no one and [people] would be upset with this, yet we have few places to go.”
“We need to face the reality of our budget constraints [and] what we can truly afford to provide. Very simply, we cannot keep doing the status quo. We cannot keep providing the same service levels and have the low inflation budget increases every year.”
Gale has called spending cuts necessary to rein in tax increases in the face of a "broken" provincial funding model, rising emergency services costs, especially for police, inflation, and council's determination to expand spending on infrastructure.
In addition to the cuts debated Monday, staff reported the city will need to consider new revenue tools like development charges and significant user fee increases to balance future budgets.
The list of proposed cuts generated loud public opposition after its release last week, including from the city’s largest union and local hockey groups, both of which demonstrated in front of city hall before Monday's meeting.
Fort William First Nation Chief Michele Solomon also expressed disappointment the recommendation to cut bus service to her community had been made with no consultation.
However, councillors differed on whether that public feedback justified reconsidering the cuts.
Coun. Shelby Ch’ng called the list of cuts a “red herring” that would ultimately do little to address the city’s main fiscal challenges.
“It’s a distraction,” she said. “Like city manager Gale said, our real problems are the ballooning costs of police, fire, EMS, [and] the lack of big industry that our tax base is propped up on.”
“This list is not sustainable. We can empty every pool, we can sell every park… and it’s still not enough money for us to be sustainable. Let's not kid ourselves into thinking these cuts, these very painful things we’re doing to the community without public consultation, are going to get us anywhere.”
Coun. Kristen Oliver said she struggled with approving cuts that would hit youth services.
“Where I really get stuck on eroding these types of amenities is, it’s not lost on me you can walk out our front door and see the vulnerable people on our streets, the rate of substance abuse and mental health, and the gamut of issues we’re seeing.”
“I fear if we’re not investing in children and providing opportunities for the community to come together and have some kind of recreational activity where maybe a child who’s lacking in some support at home finds that… maybe we’re going to change the direction of people’s lives.”
The Westfort councillor added she felt the intensity of public reaction over the proposed cuts demanded a response.
“The world is in an angry place, and I don’t want to enrage it any more,” she said. “If we’re having those discussions and engaging, I think people don’t feel we’re ignoring them and just blindly making these decisions.”
Oliver added the public had expressed a desire for “more structural” cuts, like reductions to city management.
Gale later responded the city has an average ratio of 1 manager to 15 employees, and is “not top-heavy.”
The city has stated the proposed staffing cuts do include cuts to management positions, though details are not yet clear.
Other councillors argued the cuts on the table Monday were only the beginning of the hard decisions in store over the coming years.
That was underscored by Gale’s comment that millions more in spending cuts will be needed if council wants to keep the 2024 tax levy increase below five per cent.
“This is just the beginning,” said Coun. Brian Hamilton. “It strikes me as interesting that this comes as some kind of surprise, and it shouldn’t.”
“I don’t want to cut a single thing off this [list]. But… there’s a massive hole in the bucket, and we as a council have a duty to try to mend that. These are tough conversations we have to have with the community.”
“We're heading into some tough times, and I think the community’s got to get ready to shoulder some of that burden along with council and staff.”
Hamilton argued the city has been offering services it can’t afford largely by under-funding its infrastructure, with staff pegging the city’s yearly “infrastructure deficit” at roughly $30 million.
Mayor Ken Boshcoff agreed council will need to brace itself for tough decisions including more service cuts.
“Since the word went out that we were going to find the savings, people… thought we were on the right path, and we were getting lots of support,” he said. “Now that the reality hits as to what that means, we’re hearing from all sorts of people who really don’t want their preferences affected.”
“I know many people want their particular thing protected… but I’m going to be voting to make these cuts now, because it’s only going to get tougher as the term progresses.”
“I know lots of people have their pets, but I can explain myself to them in exactly those terms.”
Administration is directed to report back by the end of August after conducting consultation on the items council spared from the chopping block on Monday.
Some councillors argued consultation could generate alternative solutions, suggesting hockey groups might be willing to pay more for ice time to preserve the Neebing Memorial Arena, for example.
Staff reported the city charges less for ice time than many comparable communities, estimating they'd need to raise fees by around 15 per cent across the system to find the $180,000 needed to keep the arena open.
The proposed cuts would not reduce spending on emergency services, infrastructure including and sidewalks, or snow-clearing.
In a statement, advocacy group Poverty Free Thunder Bay questioned that logic.
“We acknowledge that some roads are in bad shape, but postponing one repaving project could more than save the bus routes, the arena, the parkettes, the playgrounds program, the house league user fees, and the outdoor rinks,” the group stated.
“Motorists can usually slow down or use an alternate route; if buses are cancelled, people without a car are stuck. If outdoor rinks don’t open, some people won’t learn to skate.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated the proposal to eliminate transit service on Christmas and New Year’s Day had been referred for further consultation. In fact, that service cut was approved by council on June 26. TBnewswatch apologizes for the error.
