THUNDER BAY — It will cost a total of $448.8 million to run the City of Thunder Bay this year, according to the city’s proposed 2025 operating budget.
Just under half the budget, $217.4 million, is to be raised through this year’s taxes. That’s up $7.8 million over last year, a 3.7 per cent tax-levy increase.
"The budget is our plan and how we're going to deliver services," general manager of corporate services and city treasurer Keri Greaves told Dougall Media.
"It's a financial representation of the all the resources — technical, technological, human resources, financial resources — that are going to be put towards programs and services in the community so that residents can have a a strong quality of life."
The $217.4 million in tax revenue is calculated before assessment growth, the additional property taxes collected from new and expanded homes and businesses.
The city estimates assessment growth will add another $1.7 million in tax revenue, meaning the city would raise a total of $219.1 million in municipal taxes.
According to the budget proposal, the additional $1.7 million will be invested in an assessment growth reserve fund for growth-related activities.
The budget also proposes an average 3 per cent increase to water and wastewater rates.
For households consuming the average 200 cubic meters of water per year, that would mean a total annual bill of $1,437 for water and sewer, $42 more than last year.
Police services are the single biggest expenditure in the budget. For every $1,000 in tax revenue, $221 goes to policing.
The fire department is the next most significant, with $145 of every $1,000 tax dollars going to Thunder Bay Fire Rescue.
The broad category of general government comes in next at $115 of every $1,000 tax dollars. That does not include a number of city services which are accounted for separately, including, public works, transit and recreation and culture.
In total, the net cost of outside agencies, boards, and commissions like police and fire represents 43 per cent of the proposed 2025 municipal tax levy.
Council had asked all outside boards to align their 2025 budgets with the 3.8 per cent increase targeted by the city.
Most of those budget submissions did not meet the target, an increase of 4.9 per cent on average. However, the city was still able to absorb those increase in the 2025 budget.
The tax levy increase includes residential, corporate and industrial property taxes and increases may not be evenly distributed between each property type.
