Thunder Bay city council examines proposed budget

City councillors in Thunder Bay will pour over the proposed 2016 budget, line by line, beginning next week.

User fees for most services in the city, including the Mapleward Road solid waste and recycling facility, city-run golf courses and rates at homes for the aged, will inrease.

City transit will increase its cash fare by a nickel per ride, and docking fees at Prince Arthur's Landing will increase by five per cent.

The increases allow the city to balance its books, while also putting more money into its reserve and stabilization accounts. Those accounts have been depleted over the past several years, because of higher than expected winter control and legal costs.

The city will also spend more money in some departments, including nearly $1 million for debentures to pay for improvements to Golf Links Road. The cost of policing also jumps by just over $1 million.

There are some measures in place to try and keep taxes down in the city.

They include not cutting grass along rural roads, cleaning bridges semi-annually instead of annually, and potentially holding off from some projects.

Those projects include chip sealing gravel roads, preparing a future use plan for the Fort William Gardens and cancelling the battery recycling collection program.

The Enhanced Infrastructure Renewal Program, or EIRP is also set to be reduced by $400,000. This year, the money will be allocated to fewer construction projects, and be partially directed to a new police and fire radio system for the next three years. It means three-quarters of the EIRP budget will go into roads and stormwater management.

The current tax increase is set at 3.83 percent, after including growth from the city's newest buildings.

The annual budget is just under $240 million.