City councillors hang on to their chicken balls. And the EDC

No way - your City councillors are not going to part with their sweet (and sour) chicken balls, thank you very much!

They're hanging on to their free Blackberries, too.

And, City Council decided last night, on a technicality, that Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation couldn't be touched.

All three items - balls, Blackberries and Bruce Strapp - were placed on the chopping block at last night's 2010 budget meeting.

All three survived, as councillors approved a 3.39 percent municipal tax hike, expected to cost a typical ratepayer around $75.90.

Ward 5 Councillor Frank Fata and Ward 4 Councillor Lorena Tridico brought forward a series of cost-slashing motions that were either defeated or withdrawn.

Their idea to cut the backroom buffet at City Council meetings - available to councillors, City staff, members of the media and invited guests, would have saved $10,000 a year.

However, all other councillors present voted against it.

The buffet is usually comprised mostly of Italian foods but last night councillors were treated to sweet-and-sour chicken balls and other Chinese delicacies.

David Celetti, the Ward 5 councillor who never misses an opportunity to rail against City spending he considers unnecessary or excessive, was not present at last night's meeting. He was called away on a work-related issue.

Only Ward 6 Councillor Frank Manzo supported a Fata-Tridico initiative to slash the $11,000 budget for Blackberries and laptop computers provided to councillors.

Councillor Tridico called for reduction or even elimination of City Council travel.

"We should be looking at alternatives to travel like teleconferencing," Tridico said.

Councillors, she argued, should be travelling very little, if at all, especially out of province.

When they do travel, they should pay for it out of their own honoraria and provide Council with a full report as soon after their return as possible, Tridico said.

Tridico and Fata's motions to either restructure or pull funding for the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation, Destiny Sault Ste. Marie, Tourism Sault Ste. Marie, the Innovation Centre and Development Sault Ste. Marie were pulled from the agenda when it was determined that council had already dealt with those agencies and, therefore, they could not be raised again until more than one year has passed.

Councillors supported a motion by Ward 3 Councillor Bryan Hayes and Ward 1 Councillor James Caicco to look for efficiencies and non-essential service reductions to reduce the tax burden on Sault Ste. Marie home owners.

Councillors also to take $100,000 from ta working capital fund and put it in its operating budget.

The funds set aside this year for the City's hundredth anniversary celebration were reduced by $15,000 and $50,000 in revenue was taken from the global travel and training fund.

On the revenue side, the City expects to gain an additional $150,000 by charging for sludge dumped at the landfill.

Currently the sludge from wastewater treatment facilities is disposed of at the landfill free of charge. Starting next month, there will be a sewer surcharge to dump that byproduct of sewage treatment.

The City also realized a higher-than-expected income from fines last year and councillors decided to increase the amount of revenue it budgets from fines by $100,000.

City Solicitor Lorie Bottos cautioned councillors that it's very difficult to predict how much revenue will be levied from fines so fixing that revenue as a budget line-item could be setting expectations too high.

Chief Administrative Officer Joe Fratesi also cautioned Council against taking revenue from the winter control contribution reserve, but councillors decided to take $100,000 from that source.

Fratesi wanted that money had been set aside to be used in case of an unusually harsh winter.

Councillors supported a motion by Ward 3 Councillor Bryan Hayes and Ward 1 Councillor James Caicco to explore ways of accessing funding from senior levels of government in the ongoing quest to green the city.