THUNDER BAY -- If the city were a household, its mortgage would be about $22,000.
“That just about says it all,” said Mayor Keith Hobbs. “If everyone had a $22,000 mortgage, it would be pretty nice.”
The mayor delivered his state of the city address to the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce Wednesday morning at the Airlane Hotel and Conference Centre with a little help from city manager Tim Commisso, whose mortgage analogy struck a chord with the mayor.
“I think he opened a few eyes to the intricacies of the finances, taxes, budget and everything. We are in good shape as a municipality. Our debt is very manageable.”
Commisso outlined the city’s long-term financial strategy, noting that although this year’s budget is a tough one, it’s just one budget in the life of a city.
Over the course of the past 15 years, the city has seen a shift in taxes from industrial and commercial to residential and it takes time to adjust and stabilize.
At the same time, the city needs to invest in infrastructure renewal, said the city manager.
Part of the city’s vision includes the proposed event centre and Hobbs said they’re just waiting on funding from the provincial and federal governments. While they have made progress with the province, the federal government has remained quiet on the issue.
And if that funding doesn’t come through, the project will be shelved indefinitely.
“I’ve always been a champion for it and I think it’s going to be great for our community but by the end of March, we kind of have to know,” said Hobbs.
“Everything is in place waiting to go. We’re just waiting for the money.”
The mayor also outlined a vision to revitalize the south core like the transformation the north-side downtown has seen in the last couple of years.
“We have a lot of social issues in that area. We’re hammering away at the feds and the province for funding,” he said.
“We need to clean up that area. The sale of the Royal Eddy Arms is, I think, a great start.”
Chamber president Charla Robinson said the annual event is way for the business community to learn the priorities and plans of the city and that this year the information from the city manager was helpful.
“It’s important for the community to understand the financial situation the community is facing and how those challenges can be addressed,” she said.
The chamber has 1,000 members that represent 14,000 employees in the community and Robinson said that growth is a vital way to address challenges but the organization still would like to see an external review of core services.
“We need to look at the operating side. We need to look at how can we make the operating costs of the city sustainable without continually growing the taxes on a year-over-year basis at a point that it’s becoming a little challenging for residents and businesses alike,” said Robinson.
