THUNDER BAY — If city councillors were hoping for a clear roadmap to reduce a large proposed tax levy hike in 2023, they’re unlikely to find it in a package delivered by city administration ahead of a key budget meeting on Tuesday.
The package is meant to provide options for council to trim the levy increase from six per cent after accounting for growth, where it currently stands, to four per cent — requiring council to find around $4.5 million.
The two largest potential actions in that package — a “city manager organization review” that promises to find $700,000 in staffing cuts, and a package of $1.3 million worth of service cuts for 2024 — contain no further details, simply promising reports back by June.
It means city councillors looking to trim the tax levy by adopting those options wouldn't know the implications of their decision until months later.
Council also met with administration behind closed doors to discuss options to reduce the tax levy on Monday.
Most of the 63 actions proposed by administration in the package have a listed tax levy impact of 0 to 0.03 per cent, creating less than $60,000 in savings.
Administration emphasized it does not recommend most of the options, which it provided at the direction of council.
Even a noticeable service reduction, like cutting residential sidewalk and road snow plowing on weekends, was estimated to save only $94,000.
Other options for savings presented by administration include reducing the number of supervised city rinks from 11 to five, for a savings of $150,000, and deferring an "affordable access" pilot program that would offer discounted transit and recreation passes to low-income residents, for a savings of $115,000.
Administration said it could save an additional $500,000 through corporate vacancies, relating to the amount of time positions sit vacant before they are filled. Administration cautioned, however that the estimate could have been inflated by COVID-19 and “may not be realized in 2023.”
Administration also proposed eliminating the transfer of $250,000 from the annual Tbaytel dividend into the city's stabilization reserve fund, using it instead to cover the cost of operations, as an option.
The only other option that would bring savings above $100,000 is a proposed reduction to the city’s wage contingency estimate of $200,000.
City administration’s report is available online, beginning on page 16.
Council will meet for its fourth and final detailed review meeting to set the 2023 city budget on Tuesday evening, when it will consider the report.
It will then hear feedback from the public on Thursday, before a final vote to ratify the budget next week.
