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Tax talk

Some councillors think the proposed city budget isn’t what it seems.
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City manager Tim Commisso speaks to council Monday night. (Jamie Smith, tbnewswatch.com)

Some councillors think the proposed city budget isn’t what it seems.

While council did vote to receive, the process to approve it will take around a month, the proposed $225 million net 2012 budget Monday, councillors were asking for more clarification about what the numbers actually mean.

Coun. Joe Virdiramo said although the budget highlights savings, the money seems to already be spent elsewhere. He points to a boast of $1.5 million in savings while fire and EMS have money more than that already earmarked in the budget.

“I don’t understand we’re just transposing money from one to another,” he said. 124g “I think we need to really understand what the budget is all about.”

Virdiramo asked why if the city wants to save money it needs to hire more staff, which is up 33 positions this year. City manager Tim Commisso said a lot of the positions are provincially mandated. Others, such as a new engineer, iare required because of the city’s $2.5 million infrastructure increase. Virdiramo said he wants to know why the city needs to hire consultants for major projects, like certain roadwork, when they’re hiring more engineers.

“Let’s hire the engineers that can do that specific work,” Virdiramo said.

Coun. Mark Bentz said numbers should be more standardized for people to understand.

“It really appears to be a numbers game,” he said.

Coun. Aldo Ruberto presented his water bill asking why he as a small business owner is paying $384 every three months on charges he never used to have. He then read from a chart that said a $129,000 home in Thunder Bay pays $627 more in tax than it does in other cities. But Commissio said that chart isn’t an accurate way to compare tax rates.

“You can’t do it that way,” Commisso said.

“Somebody did,” Ruberto replied.

He then went on to say that the average home price in Thunder Bay, $126,793, used in the budget to project an average property tax increase is less than most peeople are paying for their home.

“You’re not going to get much of a house nowadays,” Ruberto said.

But Bentz as chair of the meeting stepped in and said Ruberto’s comments would be better for another part of the budget process.

“Don’t tell us what you think.  Show us what you want in a resolution,” Bentz said.

In a long term financial presentation Commisso said most of what’s driving property tax increases is an increase in property value, which was up an average of 8.8 per cent last year and expected to keep growing.

“We’re seeing the trends going in the right direction,” he said.

And because of council’s approval to tackle the infrastructure debt, they city will be putting $20 million more into capital every year by the end of the current council’s term.

The city has also flatlined it’s debentures at $6.8 million every year, and is expected to be down to $183 million in debt by the end of the year. City treasurer Carol Busch said the city is also experiencing new builds and expansions that it hasn’t seen in decades.
 





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