Thunder Bay city council budget vote seals fate of Chippewa wildlife park

The wildlife exhibit at Chippewa Park will close in May as a last-ditch effort at municipal budget talks on Tuesday to save the attraction, at least in the short term, fell short.

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A motion on Tuesday called for $53,800 to keep the exhibit open until Labour Day, by which point, proponents, including the Friends of Chippewa Park, could potentially come up with other sources of funding for continued operation and future upgrades.

That impact on the budget would have been completely offset by deferring over $44,000 in planned work at Chippewa's RV park, increasing user fees for the wildlife exhibit and taking $8,000 out of the roads budget earmarked for pothole patching, said Coun. Iain Angus.

"A very large number of Thunder Bay residents voted with their feet over the weekend," Angus said in support of the proposal, adding that over 800 people came out to the exhibit Sunday and Monday.

"That was a weekend where there was a lot of competition of people's time."

Over 1,200 people signed a petition to save the attraction as well, he said.

The amended plan found a little more favour among councillors, who already defeated a motion to restore the exhibit's full $83,400 in operating costs during budget deliberations.

"I think that the motion before us is not calling for a permanent commitment," said Coun. Paul Pugh, adding that he was changing his vote to support the temporary funding. "It's to give [proponents] time to come up with a plan."

Still, the majority of councillors weren't swayed.

"I'm not changing my mind," Coun. Rebecca Johnson said. "I look at it ... that this amendment, all it's doing is postponing the inevitable."

3.13 per cent net budget increase over 2016

Council finalized the 2017 budget, which calls for a 3.13 per cent increase in spending over last year to be funded by existing taxpayers.

The evening started with that number at 3.09 per cent, but councillors voted to add $63,900 to the parks budget to maintain the service of city staff transporting things like picnic tables, garbage cans and barricades to private events held in city-owned spaces. Administration had proposed cutting the service as a cost-saving measure.

Businesses and for-profit organizations will now be charged, however — city staff estimated the new fee would recover about 25 per cent of the budget hit.

Another motion to lower the impact on the tax roll by taking $1 million out of a reserve fund, intended to cover unexpected costs or deficits throughout the year, was lost on a 6-6 tied vote.

The proposal also called for administration to find that amount in savings next year, but some councillors expressed concern over how feasible that would be and what impact drawing money from an emergency fund would have on the city in the future.

At the end of the night, Couns. Brian McKinnon, Paul Pugh, Frank Pullia, Aldo Ruberto, Joe Virdiramo, Iain Angus, Shelby Ch'ng and Andrew Foulds supported the budget, while Rebecca Johnson, Linda Rydholm, Trevor Giertuga and Larry Hebert voted against it.

Mayor Keith Hobbs was absent.