Taxes to go up by 1.89 percent

City council passed a 1.89 percent tax levy increase for 2015 at its annual budget meeting Monday.

That means the owner of an average detached Sault Ste. Marie home, now valued at $165,700, will pay an extra $49 in property taxes.

The city's finance department had recommended a 2.2 percent tax levy increase for 2015 (an extra $51 in property taxes for the owner of an average home).

It became apparent during the early stages of Monday's meeting that Mayor Christian Provenzano and city councillors had a desire to get the tax levy increase down to less than 2 percent.

Provenzano said "our growth is down…the lowest it's been since 2007."

There was a feeling the tax levy increase should be kept as low as possible, with many homeowners on fixed incomes and others feeling the pinch as a result of layoffs, or their wages frozen (in the case of provincial government employees).

After much discussion by council, finance department staff came up with a solution to arrive at the 1.89 percent figure, which council approved.

$132,634 of Northern Community Centre annual debt repayment will be reduced by reamortization, $105,585 was reduced from various redundant reserves, and there will be $100,000 in Capital from Current reductions (to be determined by city staff).  

$30,000 in funding was approved to help fight emerald ash borer infestation of trees on municipal property, with $15,000 from the levy, another $15,000 from the 5 percent Subdividers reserve.

An Official Plan public consultation program was funded with $30,000 from Engineering and Planning reserves.

$20,000 was approved for structural beam padding for the Northern Community Centre from the 5 percent Subdividers reserve.

$50,000 for the Healthy Kids Community Challenge was approved.

Requests for snow removal on the John Rowswell Hub Trail ($182,050 one time, $64,510 on-going), an Environmental Initiative Committee budget increase ($50,000), golf netting for the Northern Community Centre ($40,000), additional components for the Northern Community Centre (nearly $600,000), a splash park ($25,000), municipal support for Crime Stoppers ($27,895) and funding for the MS Norgoma ($15,000) were dropped.

Funding for outside agencies was not reduced (as some councillors called for), but agencies will be put on notice their funding may be affected in the 2016 budget.

A surplus of $3,516,847 will be used as recommended by the finance department.

$1,935,049 of the surplus money goes towards reducing the levy, $1,116,644 to additional road resurfacing, $325,154 to pay off the city's share of the cost for the Heritage Discovery Centre and $140,000 to railroad crossing upgrades.

Council also approved staff's recommendations for asset management (maintenance and repair of municipal buildings).

The Civic Centre itself needs significant repair to its exterior surfacing and windows.

A report prepared for council's April 13 meeting showed the cost for city hall repairs to be between $5.6 million and $6.2 million, with a recommended completion date of no later than 2018, based on a 2014 evaluation of municipal buildings by the firm Morrison Hershfield.

The finance department, in its proposed 2015 budget report, recommended putting $2.7 million towards asset management per year for the next 10 years, for a total of $27 million.