With more than $2 billion in infrastructure, maintaining the city can come with a hefty price tag.
On Monday city council received a first report that highlights more than $148 million worth of capital projects over the next five years. It's ranked in priority including everything from the $8.2 million second phase of the Junot corridor, which tops the list for roads, to potential projects like leveraged funding for the events centre.
Since 2009 the city has been tackling its infrastructure gap in order to maintain everything from roads to bridges.
"So that every year we've got more money to spend on roads and facilities and parks, things that we have to spend money on," Commisso said.
But just like a home that needs repairs, the city might need to go into more debt in order to get the job done.
"We're not talking about going crazy. What we're talking about is a managed program," Commisso said.
Still that word concerns Coun. Rebecca Johnson. She asked that the city hold a public meeting on its strategic priorities.
"They are the ones that are actually going to be paying for those budget implications," she said. "Sometimes the public have more insight into things than we really give them credit for."
"I do not belive that our city should be paying more debt. I am concerned that we would even consider thinking of more debt."
But Commisso said the city is in good shape with a relatively low debt ratio. And without debt, needed work might not get done.
"The city has huge infrastructure and some of these projects cost a lot of money and to expect that we're just going to pay for them out of our revenue...it's not realistic," he said.
