news-mayor provenzano

City councils hands were somewhat tied when it came to wrestling with its budget last night as council settled with passing on a 4.34% tax levy increase.
The impact on the average single family home in the Sault will mean around a $112 tax increase.
Over the last few budgets city council against the wishes of city staff has made use of surplus funds and applied it to the tax levy to reduce it.
It’s a practice Mayor Christian Provenzano is not in favour of and it wasn’t an option for the 2017 budget as the city isn’t expecting a surplus…

 

The Mayor added you can also set aside money to put into a reserve to reduce taxes on a rainy day.
Since 2011 use of surplus funds has ranged from 500-thousand dollars to just over 2-million dollars in 2014.  Last year 2.35 million  was used through surplus and reserve funds to reduce the levy.
Surpluses have been shrinking in recent years due in part to new costs associated with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board as coverage has been improved in terms of recognizing prescribed cancers as a occupational disease for firefighters and investigators and providing benefits for cases of PTSD in emergency services.  Those improvements come with an additional one-million dollar cost to the City.

Mayor Provenzano says the measures approved in the 2017 budget will mean a reduction in full time positions…

 

The budget also includes setting aside 200-thousand dollars a year for the next three years for the City’s Downtown Development plan which is considered a priority project.
City staff has been instructed to look for the best way to access funds to pay for the project.