Thunder Bay council re-commits to cutting costs

City councillors in Thunder Bay want administration to keep looking at what city services could be cut and re-affirmed the city's position on cost cutting by supporting the core business review.

At a meeting Monday night, Coun. Trevor Giertuga said his colleagues have to get serious when it comes to finding savings in the annual budget.

"I've been really frustrated," he said.

"We sent our city manager away, tasked him with finding efficiencies within our city budget, finding some savings, and then we've thrown him under the bus."

Giertuga said city administration shouldn't have to ask council to "re-affirm" its support for staff to find savings.

He said recommendations, like closing Municipal Golf Course, should have been followed.

City administration made it a goal to retrim $500,000 each year from the budget.

Squeeze on at city hall

But Coun. Iain Angus said other efforts to save money will pay off.

"There were other savings identified in that report, were there not?" he asked.

"And, can you give us a sense of the total value of those savings that this council has not rejected, or thrown under the bus?"

Council also heard about the latest budget variance — the city is off by about $900,000 for the third quarter.

City manager Tim Commisso said there's now a squeeze on at city hall.

"What we will do in the next following two months is look at the organization to kind of drive out, at least, the amount of money to offset this," he said.

Commisso said he'll make sure there's a surplus by the end of the year, even if it means holding off on hiring non-essential staff.