City Manager Norm Gale - Acadia Broadcasting File Photo
City council received the city’s long-term financial overview presentation from City Manager Norm Gale and City Treasurer Kari Greaves at the January 23 council meeting, giving councillors the big picture before budget deliberations continue.
The presentation was split into five sections focusing on the economic environment, taxation and affordability, a 2024 budget overview, infrastructure, debt and reserve funds, and the financial projections for 2025-2029.
During the presentation, it was made clear that Thunder Bay’s tax levy increase is below the average compared to similar-sized municipalities on a relative basis.
15 Ontario municipalities were surveyed with increases ranging from 2.5 per cent to 14.2 per cent with an average of 6.7 per cent.
As of today, the City of Thunder Bay’s proposed levy increase is 5.5 per cent.
Although these stats look favourable they came with a disclaimer. “I place low reliability on these metrics, and the reason is each municipality finds itself in a different position and makes different decisions and different priorities,” explained City Manager Norm Gale. “Toronto has had perhaps two decades of very low levy increases because of decisions made by their councils, so a municipality could have very low increases over several years and then all of a sudden find themselves in a position where they have to play catchup, and therefore they will have a high levy increase.”
“Conversely a municipality may have two, or three, or four years of higher-than-average increase, and find themselves in a positive position and therefore this year would have a low increase,” added Gale. “Also municipalities may find themselves deciding not to invest less in infrastructure… This will mean a lower levy increase, so it’s based on decisions, so I urge caution in drawing comparisons with other municipalities.”
The city’s projected tax levy increase was also delivered sitting at:
- 2025 – 4.4 per cent
- 2026 – 4.8 per cent
- 2027 – 4.7 per cent
- 2028 – 4.6 per cent
- 2029 – 4.8 per cent
These numbers are purely a projection and are subject to change heavily.
The city’s total reserve and reserve funds are sitting at $121.8 Million as of December 31, 2023, and the city’s outstanding debenture balance is projected to be just over $200 million for December 31, 2023.
The next step in the budget process is an informal question and answer session at Victoria Inn’s Embassy Suite open to the public 6:00-7:30 pm.
