Council Refuses to Discuss 2% Tax Decrease

Councillors side with staff and pass on giving taxpayers a break in light of recent $1M+ savings.

This week Councillor Fern Pellerin attempted to bring forward a motion to reconsider the 2024 property tax increase of 4.67%. In his memo to council, Pellerin indicated that since the municipality saved over $1M on capital projects recently and final tax bills have not been sent out yet, the city should consider reducing how much it wants to raise our taxes.

As discussed in prior meetings, 1% of tax increase amounts to approximately $200,000 of municipal expenses. Pellerin’s suggestion to reduce the 2024 increase by 2% (bringing it down to 2.67%) would have still left over $600,000 of bonus reserves for the year.

A 2.67% increase would put us in line with what North Bay council recently decided when they finalized a 2.74% increase.

Unfortunately it was clear at Tuesday night’s meeting that staff did not want this considered whatsoever. The CAO repeatedly stopped Pellerin from even discussing his motion. Telling him he needed at least six councillors’ permission (two thirds) in order to discuss a prior decision (the decision to approve the 4.67% approved last month).

So, Pellerin couldn’t even justify his desire for reconsideration. Luckily his memo was in the agenda and all of council had a chance to see it. But no one other than Councillor Anne Tessier was willing to stand up for Pellerin or the taxpayers. Tessier’s request for a discussion was also interrupted before the mayor quickly moved the motion to a vote.

This was not a vote to actually lower the tax rate. It was simply a vote to see if council would be allowed to discuss the proposition. Again, considering that the 2024 capital budgets have come in with a $1M+ savings. Unfortunately only Tessier and Pellerin voted in favour and the motion was defeated.

It is understandable that staff would be against reducing the operating budget because a surplus is much easier to manage. However it is very difficult to understand why councillors (who represent the taxpayers and not staff) would be opposed to giving taxpayers their rightful money back. Let alone just having a discussion on the topic.

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