Mayor, Chamber CEO spar over tax rates

It was promoted as a friendly “Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce Breakfast with the Mayor,” at Algoma’s Water Tower Inn, but there was some straightforward after-breakfast talk between Mayor Christian Provenzano and Rory Ring, Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce CEO at the Friday morning event.

Expressing concern over the economic well-being of Chamber members, Ring told Provenzano “they (city council, under Provenzano’s watch) kicked the industrial and commercial tax rates issue down the road five years.”

“Looking at the rate, we’re consistent with other municipalities . . . you’re looking at one small part of the (tax) story,” Provenzano replied.

Ring also said the Chamber is critical of the city for spending at two-and-a-half times the rate of inflation.

“That’s factually incorrect,” Provenzano said.

The city has implemented a number of cost saving measures to keep spending under control, the mayor said.

“We’ve frozen our own wages . . . we have bent over backwards to try and keep spending down,” Provenzano said, also pointing to difficult money management decisions such as cuts to fire services to improve EMS, and necessary refurbishments to city buildings such as the Civic Centre.

Ring wasn’t satisfied with Provenzano’s response to the issue of commercial and industrial tax rates.

“I think we do need to turn our eye to that issue in more detail,” Ring told SooToday.

“Yes, it’s a complex issue but you just can’t dodge it and say ‘Well, you can look at things from different perspectives.’”

“At the end of the day we have the highest industrial and commercial tax rates in Ontario,” Ring told us.

“We need to do something about that.  We just can’t continue to explain it away as something complex and hard to understand.”

“We’re looking for the leadership in our city to stand up and say ‘Yes we’re going to do something about it’ . . . yes, it’s complex, but it doesn’t mean you just sweep it under the carpet for five years and say ‘Okay, we’re going to wait for the assessment to grow.’”

Ring said the Chamber would like to see the city keep cutting its own operational costs to reduce the commercial and industrial tax rates.

“What we’re hearing from our members is they would like the city to make a commitment to continuous improvement with its own operations, and then channel those cost savings into reducing the commercial and industrial tax rates without putting it on residents.”

On the topic of economic development, Provenzano told the Chamber audience “one thing I believe is that we can’t continue doing what we’re doing.  I recognize the importance of Essar in our community . . . (but) it’s going to be more troubling if we are still dependent on a single economic engine.”

“City council has to steer, and we have to get other people in the community to help us grow.  I see a much different community that isn’t dependent on a primary employer…we can be a massive tourist destination, and there’s no reason why we can’t be a leader in information technology, and we’re working hard to make that come to pass.

Provenzano said one competitive, business-friendly factor that should spur growth and maintain quality of life for Saultites is the relatively low cost of electricity distribution in Sault Ste. Marie.

“We have the third lowest electricity rate in the province of Ontario.”

“Electricity rates are high (overall) and I recognize that . . . but we do control your distribution rates because the city owns the utility and we’ve kept distribution rates down and we’ve also kept your water rates down.”

Provenzano said the city is making progress on downtown development and is hopeful the Port of Algoma will one day be built.