'Core mandates' above granting financial support requests

The decisions are not final but if the official 2023 operating budget for the City of North Bay aligns with the discussions held in deliberations Thursday evening, some of the organizations seeking tens of thousands of dollars in support will be left seeking other avenues for funding.

Several service level enhancement requests were received. This meeting focused on funding requests that fall under the umbrella of community services and there are more to come from the other municipal business units in meetings next week.

Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsfield, who also serves as the budget chief, says, "The asks we have received from community partners highlight that there are many deserving organizations in need, and we need to find ways to work with them to support their mandates outside of monetary contributions.

"Once we have had the chance to review the budget in its entirety, we will be having some frank conversations about the realities of accepting certain requests. I anticipate that there will be debates and conversations about what we see as necessities versus wants," continues Horsfield. "We have very little room on the operating side of the city’s budget to adjust without considering service level reductions or dipping further into the reserves."

See related: Budget talks open with a 5.77 per cent levy increase

Keeping in mind that these figures provided are a starting point and subject to change, taxpayers are looking at a levy increase of 5.77 per cent over 2022. This represents an increase of $5.8 million to nearly $107 million over last year's operating levy of $101.1 million.

Two of the notable higher dollar amount requests from community organizations came from Creative Industries and OUTLoud North Bay.

Creative Industries was seeking an increase of $35,000 in base funding from $75,000 to $110,000 plus a three-year micro-granting program funded from reserves.

OUTLoud North Bay sought operational funding of $80,000 to $114,000, as the organization had outlined in a recent presentation to council.

"When we talk about some of these requests, we have to make it very clear that we are not in that business," said Mayor Peter Chirico during the meeting. "When we look at salaries for outside organizations. Every organization is well-meaning and does a lot of good work in our community but it's attached to social services. That is one of the things we provide funding to — social services, the DNSSAB Board — for those types of community services."

These requests were discussed at length and soundly rejected with the caveat that the City of North Bay would offer assistance in other ways.

Chirico added, "We're not in the business of providing funds to individual groups for salaries or operating costs. As a council, we have to make that very clear that is not what we're doing on the backs of taxpayers."

"After Council has had the chance to review all the business units and the public requests, we will look at the budget and have the opportunity to engage in more fulsome conversations about the requests to determine if there is the opportunity to change any," Horsfield adds.

Any approved enhancement drives the levy increase higher or it must be offset with another source of revenue or the use of reserves. Coun. Gary Gardiner has already expressed his discontent with the 5.77 per cent levy increase and is prepared to outright reject many of the proposed service level increases.

"You can't pick and choose," Gardiner said to his colleagues. "You have to draw the line. I'm pretty sure some of these boards said, 'Let's throw out a request, we have nothing to lose.' And, so they did it. And, all those other boards noticed they got money and next year, they'll be at the table. Once you start on this road, it's a slippery slope."

"The discussions we had at Thursday’s meeting around these two organizations highlighted Council’s understanding that they engage and provide important work and service in our community but that as a municipality we must ensure that we are funding our core mandates," Horsfield says. "The municipality does have the option to support these organizations through other means including accessing grants and other services as identified in their requests."

Several other service enhancements received preliminary approval from the majority around the table: 

• Two new fleet vehicles for property standards that will replace two other vehicles in the fleet that are beyond useful life. Property standards employees have been using their own vehicles and billing for mileage.
• The Event Hosting Program requested an additional $50,000 to increase the amount of funding available to community events and to set up a fund available to for-profit businesses that are offering events in the community.
• There was a request for $25,000 base funding for the summer concert series and expanded arts and cultural programming.
• The Dionne Quints Heritage Board asked to access $15,000 from a reserve fund to install an HVAC system but a separate request for $5,000 operating funding has been denied.

Horsfield says all options remain on the table to lower the levy.

"Many of the increases we are seeing in the 2023 operating budget are tied to insurance premium increases, natural gas cost increases, fuel cost increases, obligatory personnel costs, as well as, the service partners' costs. As city services continue to return to pre-pandemic levels, we are still experiencing the catch-up game of revenues from user fees and other ancillary services.

"Once Council has fully reviewed the budget, we will need to consider options from using more reserves than already proposed and/or considering what services the municipality offers and whether we can maintain those levels of community expectation."

General operating and capital budget meetings will continue Feb. 27, March 1–2 and March 6 in the Mayor's Boardroom on the fifth floor at City Hall. Members of the public are invited to attend.