Facing 'extraordinary' Thunder Bay budget, some residents say they'd pay more to avoid cuts

As Thunder Bay city council begins meetings on the proposed 2023 budget, some residents say they're prepared to accept higher property taxes if it means saving the services they value.

CBCNews spoke to more than a dozen people in the parking lot of Walmart on Memorial Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.

"Nobody likes paying higher taxes, but taxes are sort of the subscription fee that we pay for living in a great community," Alex Jones said. "And it makes sense with the increased cost of inflation, and therefore, of everything else, that taxes also need to increase."

Council held its first budget-related meeting on Tuesday night with a presentation from staff about the city's long-term financial outlook.

This year's projected tax levy is$11.6 million, or 5.6 per cent, after growth, considerably more than the 1.5to three per cent to which residents are accustomed.

The tax levy is the amount the city needs to raise from taxpayers to fund city services and capital infrastructure. The city then determines how to spread the tax burden across different categories of taxpayers, such as homeowners and businesses.

Drivers of this year's levy include inflation, increases to the Thunder Bay Police Serviceand the cost of the provincially mandated organics program, according to staff.

Taxes are sort of the subscription fee that we pay for living in a great community- Alex Jones

City manager Norm Gale called the levy "extraordinary," andtold council he had never imagined he would ever proposea budget with a 5.6 per cent levy during his career as a city manager.

The amount prompted Coun. Mark Bentz to askGale about recommendations for service cuts that are "the least impactful to the ratepayer."

Gale told Bentz council could pass a motion during the budget debate to request such advice.

Coun. Andrew Foulds, meanwhile, signalled his intention to fight to preserve services, saying he is "certainly not interested in slashing and burning recreation and those things that add value to our lives."

Several people who spoke with CBCNews outside Walmart said they too would prefer to preserve services, even if it means paying more tax.

Serge Tittley's priority is supporting initiatives that benefit youth, such as the proposed indoor turf facility, he said.

"It seems clear to me that if we value the services that are being provided, we need to pay for them."

Beth Workman said she is concerned about funding for the Thunder Bay Public Library and is willing to pay more to help sustain it.

"I really want them sponsored," she said."It would be terrible to take away that kind of thing for disadvantaged neighbourhoods."

Shawn Squitti said that, as a father, he would be willing to accept a higher tax bill to maintain city-run child-care services used by other parents he knows, while Serge Uliana said he'd even be willing to pay a little bit more to see seniors get free access to transit in the city.

But not everyone was prepared for a potential larger-than-usual property tax increase.

"We don't want anything, like, to increase our rent," said Neha Rajput, referring to the potential downstream impact of such increases."We also don't want some services cut. It's a 'lose' situation for us."

Jackie Assad said she doesn't believe people can afford more property tax increases, but, like other people CBC spoke to, she struggled to name a department or service she'd be comfortable seeing cut.

"I don't want to say social services," she said.

"I'm sure they could cut corners somewhere by having a good look."

Linda Poulter said she would prefer service cuts over higher taxes because she lives in a part of the city that doesn't benefit from many of the services she pays for.

We don't want anything, like, to increase our rent.We also don't want some services cut. It's a 'lose' situation for us.- Neha Rajput

"We don't have bus service. We don't have sidewalks. We don't have street lights. All we have is garbage collection," she said.

But asked if she thought she could make do with fewer road repairs, she laughed and said, "Heck no.My car has got to go in because there's so many potholes in the street."

Poulter was one of several people who told CBCNews she thought that city managers should take a pay cut to help maintain services.

Michelle LaPorte said she'd be in favour of reducing the size of council.

LaPorte said she isn't opposed to paying more tax for quality work and to maintain core services like road maintenance, but she does not want to fund projects such as the proposed indoor turf facility.