Candidates for council talk taxes and spending

We asked Sault Ste. Marie candidates for council the following question: As a councillor what steps would you take to keep local spending and taxes to a minimum? Here are the responses:

Sonny Spina Ward 1

The recent rise in inflation rates has made the cost of living difficult for many families. Our new city council must make responsible decisions to keep taxes as low as possible.

Council will be faced with a balancing act to maintain aging infrastructure while at the same time expand services in growth areas. This must be done in a way that is fiscally responsible and sustainable.

To do this, council must continue our partnerships with provincial and federal governments to help us access and secure funding for future projects before the projects are initiated.

We must.

Expand city services and make strategic investments for infrastructure, economic development and community growth to increase our tax base

Plan and budget for future infrastructure projects and development

Review spending and the delivery of services to find efficiencies

Maintain regular finance reporting from departments and special projects to ensure budgets are met.

While there are many big picture considerations, we can also review existing user fees, permits, licenses, and fines regularly and adjusted them to meet our changing needs.

We need to explore shared services agreements between city departments, with other neighbouring communities and private industry to identify efficiencies and add potential revenue streams.

Sandra Hollingsworth Ward 1

I like to see council to “throw” back a budget from a levy board that is inflated.

Throw back and revise where they are responsible to find more efficiencies. This is possible and was done with the police budget in 2021. Work closer with the levy boards to ensure they fully appreciate the impact their spending has on the overall tax.

Also capital projects continue to go over allotted budgets.

The purchasing department and contracts for projects need to be overhauled to include penalties and don’t pay unless are services rendered within budget. Build in safe guards that protect the consumer (the city) from inflated pricing and project creep.

William McPhee Ward 1

If elected I would want to make sure that every city department is spending their budget appropriately, and look to see if there are ways to maximize what they are getting for what they pay.

The balance between taxes and spending I believe can be helped by making sure projects that are chosen are things that are needed, are affordable and makes sense to do it at the time.

For some things like certain road projects there is the possibility of getting money from either provincial or federal levels of government and that option needs to be explored and used when possible.

When projects are approved and they start to have overrun on the budget then it needs to be examined and determine why the cost increase and you may have to modify the project along the way and not do some things that are planned so a project doesn't end up in the millions of dollars over budget.

Jonathan Lalonde Ward 1

As a councillor I would keep local spending and taxes to a minimum by keeping a close eye on the budget.

I would make sure to not overspend unless it was absolutely necessary.

I would cap non-essential spending and luxury spending to a minimum. I would scrutinize every budget item to find efficiencies and cost savings. I would not raise taxes but look for and capitalize on other revenue streams.

Cities can increase revenues through asset monetization strategies like: sell or lease land and city properties to increase revenue, increase ad space around the city and create new revenue streams.

Other ways are to enter joint venture partnerships and joint development agreements.

We can also enhance collections and the audit process, grow the population of Sault Ste. Marie and attract new business to the city.

I believe that all or a combination of these strategies will help to keep local spending and taxes to a minimum.

Brent Derochie Ward 1

If elected, I would plan on keeping taxes low by proposing smart investment opportunities for the community and individuals which will in turn create a growth in economic prosperity.

Taxes are inevitable. Governments require taxes in order to support the community. Yet, the amount of taxation will determine how much the government can support the community. I plan to keep taxation low and not see a significant increase, and I will also propose that we bring in local tax experts, along with tax experts and economists from other communities who have seen success with their tax scheme, to suggest alternative methods and solutions to Sault Ste. Marie taxation.

Spending public funds requires the utmost care and integrity when dispersing those dollars.

It would be my plan that when we are spending money on new things, that we complete public consultations, debate vigorously and listen to expert witnesses to assess the viability of the spending and the return on investment. In order to make money, you sometimes have to invest in projects. But that does not mean putting millions upon millions of dollars in projects that are not needed.

We need to be reaching out to our federal and provincial counterparts to negotiate funding partnerships for local development and opportunities. We must also ensure that we do not spend money until all the assets we require are secured to ensure we can move forward in a safe and responsible manner.

If you have any questions or ideas, please reach out to me at brentderochieward1@gmail.com or visit my website at brentderochie.ca .

NIck Armstrong Ward 2

As a city Councillor, every decision made at the table should consider its effect on city taxpayers. I feel this is a fundamental requirement as a Councillor to act responsibly and most efficiently with taxpayers funds.

Some steps to achieve this, with questions that should be considered;

Understand and ensure spending on projects will result in the best return on investment for the local economy.

-Are we treating the root of a problem or only a symptom?

-Are we competing with other facilities or private investors on a similar project?

-Does the project result in the maximum benefit for the most taxpayers possible?

Best value for dollars spent, proactive planning vs reactive planning. An example; you can spend as little as a tenth the cost by maintaining and repairing infrastructure vs letting it fail.

-Are there other efficiencies within the city departments that could be realized to maximize value for the city taxpayer?

-Are the best value vendors/contracts being awarded for both new projects and maintenance?

-Can funding be provided by other levels of government and not the city taxpayers?

Most importantly, the priority of the spending needs to align with the desires of residents and taxpayers.

-Residents expect the best value and priority possible for their tax spending.

If elected, I am committed to ensuring every decision made is both responsible and efficient, this will ensure taxes are kept to a minimum.

Please see my website @ nickarmstrong.ca for more information about me and my platform priorities.

Dennis Murphy Ward 2

The role of the City Council is defined under the Municipal Act 2001 and is applicable to all City Councils in Ontario. It is quoted as follows:

Section 224 It is the role of council,

(a) to represent the public and to consider the well-being and interests of the municipality;

(b) to develop and evaluate the policies and programs of the municipality;

(d) to ensure that administrative policies, practices and procedures and controllership policies, practices and procedures are in place to implement the decisions of council;

(d.1) to ensure the accountability and transparency of the operations of the municipality, including the activities of the senior management of the municipality;

(e) to maintain the financial integrity of the municipality; and

(f) to carry out the duties of council under this or any other Act. 2001, c. 25, s. 224; 2006, c. 32, Sched. A, s. 99.

From my studying of the Municipal Act to be an effective Ward 2 City Councillor and as a “steward” of the taxpayers money, it would be my role with the entire Council to regularly have the following expectations from City Staff and ourselves. We would need to monitor that:

“policies adopted by council are being implemented
staff are administering services and programs as council intended
rules and regulations are being applied correctly and consistently
funds are being spent only as authorized, and the municipality’s resources (financial and otherwise) are being used appropriately and as efficiently as possible”

As the Ward 2 Councillor, I would be held accountable by the taxpayers and it would be my job to monitor and hold City Staff accountable to ensure that expenses are kept within budgetary expectations as well as voicing the expectation that any tax increments are minimal.

These items would be outlined in the Shape the Sault Report and a new Multi Year Strategic Plan. We need to focus on how we can diversify our economy and grow our tax base instead of continuing to go back to the same taxpayers year after year and as a City Council, we would need to monitor this closely without getting involved in the day to day business of the city.

Luke Dufour Ward 2

Council must always balance a desire for low taxes with citizen's desire for services.

The only way to offer good services without only resorting to taxation is to find new sources of revenue.

One of the ways that I helped to do this during the previous term of Council was via the SSM Housing Corporation. Inspired by the good work of the PUC Board, who used their institutional expertise to purchase outside companies that generated a dividend for SSM, I helped to guide a similar plan at Social Services.

By strategically purchasing market rent properties, the SSMHC has been able to offer attainable rent to new market clients while at the same time generating a revenue surplus which has been used to reinvest in the capital needs of other social housing.

The past two years have seen 0% increases to the SSMHC budget levy, while at the same time increasing Capital budgets for social housing for the first time in decades.

This plan took a lot of work by the board and staff. Its benefits to the community and the local taxpayer are going to last for a generation because as mortgages are paid off, more revenue will flow back to the SSMHC.

It is ironic that generating this type of revenue surplus could only begin with a significant capital spend ($10 million).

But by investing those funds, we are generating sustainable returns that can defray future tax increases and continue to fund social housing for the future.

Lisa Vezeau-Allen Ward 2

Since my time on Council I have participated on the Finance Committee and most recently as Chair.

I think it is very important for the public to know that as a municipality we have required services to provide (such as refuse removal, transit, road maintenance) and as such it is subject to rising costs, as we all felt this year within our own day to day expenses. From my perspective we do not overspend and that is evident from our low debt ratio and credit rating.

It is about finding efficiencies (such as the motion I passed regarding investigating city and police administration) and where duplication may be an opportunity to increase productivity and potentially decrease budgets.

It's also about increasing potential revenues, not always cutting.

Being proactive with alternative funding sources, granting opportunities. It's our responsibility as Council to support initiatives, and also communicate to our community the realities of running our city safely and effectively for all post pandemic.

Ron Zagordo Ward 3

There are a number of considerations I will take as a councillor to ensure spending and taxes are kept to a minimum or not increased at all. To name a few:

When adopting a budget ,assessing the significant costs the budget is committing to, looking at what the revenues required to meet the obligations are and assessing how the specific budget helps the city achieve long-term financial stability
Public input is critical in any budget process because it promotes trust and respects residents’ opinions
Turning to provincial and federal resources to assist in any budget presented
When making any decisions on spending/taxes use data to support evidence-based decision-making …. I will do my homework.
Considering opportunities for sharing services or resources with neighboring municipalities
Prioritizing the needs within our community when making decisions about spending
Establishing better lines of communication and collaboration between the private and public sector to ensure the best possible jobs for the best possible prices.

Louis Moreno Ward 3

The answer to this question is simple. Let’s keep our spending and taxes to a minimum until we are able to figure out new forms of revenue.

Municipalities are very limited in the types of direct revenue tools they can use. For example, municipal governments are responsible for more than 60% of Canada’s infrastructure. However, municipalities only collect $0.12 per every tax dollar paid in Canada.

Before introducing new forms of revenue in Sault Ste. Marie, we need to:

1- Be fiscally responsible and mindful of our public wallet

2- Consider how taxes affect lower and middle-income households

3- Conduct (larger) public consultations before initiating large-scale projects in our City

I believe Sault Ste. Marie is the perfect City to study, work, and raise a family. However, the cost of living continues to be higher and higher.The Mayor and City Council must work together to keep our taxes low, be mindful of our public wallet, and look for new ways of revenue. To learn more, please visit www.luismoreno.ca or call me at 705-943-1443.

Angela Caputo Ward 3

As a Council, I do not believe our focus should be keeping spending at a minimum, but rather making sure every dollar that we spend is maximized and beneficial to Sault Ste. Marie.

I am a firm believer that a person must believe in and invest in themselves in order to be able to attract investors. I believe the same is true about Sault Ste Marie. We need to ensure that our money, time and energy are being invested in creating the city that we envision. It is not our job to be gatekeepers of city funds, but rather to work with constituents to push forward projects that we all want to see done.

The goal for myself as a Councillor is not to ensure that this Council spends the least amount of funds because that would mean that I would be promising to keep things the way they are with no forward movement or belief in this community and that is not who I am or what I believe.

My goal is to ensure transparency in spending and to try to involve the constituents in decision as best as I can. I would love to see a much higher voter turnout, well attended town hall meetings and more Councillors voting with the wants and needs of those they are representing in mind. We need to start listening to our tax payers and building a better relationship between our municipal government and citizens.

Kurtis McDermid Ward 3

Increase our population and our tax base.

This can be done through wise spending and investment similar to what we have seen through the efforts of our tourism department and the former work of FutureSSM. Our city has done a phenomenal job at filling our hotels, giving The Soo a place on the radar of many Canadians, increasing media exposure, attracting international students, cruise ships and much more. We are attracting people into our city to visit and learn. Now we need to make them fall in love with our city and never leave. Canada’s west coast does a phenomenal job of this and The Soo shares a lot of the natural beauty and Canadian appeal that the west coast does. We need to take a page out of their play book and learn how to make visitors fall in love with our city.

Our budget is not sufficient for our needs as a city. We’ve seen council try to make it work every year and the decisions they have made have helped propel our city forward but have had some damaging consequences.

Our crumbling infrastructure has been one of the victims of this. As a business owner I understand this more than most. When you set a business up in a way to grow and develop you need the budget to support it. The options are either, ask more from your existing customers, which we do not want to do, or increase the number of customers. Our city needs to do the same, we currently have a population of ~70 000 trying to support a city that can fit upwards of 100 000. We are essentially a single income family of 3 trying to maintain a 6 bedroom 3 bath house on an acre of land.

We cannot adequately tackle the problems and crises that we face with infrastructure, the opioid crisis, housing and labour without increasing our tax base and that begins with building a city with amenities, features, global image, and events that bring people to our city.

Marek McLeod Ward 4

I care about your money, it’s time you get a break.

I’m all for development and improving parts of our city, my problem is that our property taxes are paying for all of it.

The Plaza should have had funding before construction began, like the Twin Pads had. We sought, and successfully won, funding from the province which turned our financial obligations from $28.8 million to $14.4 million, after further amenities were added to the project.

Funding from other governments and alternative revenue streams is critical if we are to freeze property taxes as all of us hope to do during this cost of living crisis.

I’d like to see the introduction of a Vacancy Tax, as well as a Speculation Tax on our real estate market, and research on Development Charges and a Land Transfer Tax for non-inheritance/sale land transfers.

It’s a simple choice here: either we bring in these new taxes that target the slum lords and Toronto Companies to make them pay their fair share, or we raise our property taxes to cover the new costs of Council.

If you want to know more, you can reach me by email at marekmcleod@gmail.com or by call/text at 705-975-3662.

Stephen Kinach Ward 4

I would like to see the end of spending on vanity projects.

Our tax dollars should be used for everyday items and programs that will improve the lives of our citizens.

High on my list is physician recruitment, road repairs, and opioid crisis response. I believe by keeping it simple we can accomplish our goals and not raise taxes on Saultites.

Inflation is running rampant, raising the cost of living for many. This is not the time to add more stress to households. You can find more information about my platform at www.kinachward4.ca

Marchy Bruni Ward 4

As a city Councillor, it is my responsibility to help minimize any yearly tax increase to all residents and local businesses.

My approach over the past 12 years has been to thoroughly review the budget strategically line by line and by each department. My overall goal is to keep the tax levy as low as possible.

Every year, our council obtains a copy of each City Departmental budget. The budget consists of a variety of operational costs along with any new project funding requests. When a budget review reveals unnecessary spending, that particular department will need to realign their costs.

When I sit on Boards and committees, I review their budgets and any new funding requests. When we all work together as a collaborated team, the outcome will be positive.

Council and senior staff know it is important to deliver the lowest possible tax rate increase to continue to support the community while delivering value so residents can continue to access the services and continue to work towards improving our infrastructure.

A budget with zero increase is very challenging with one of the options is to reduce services and staff. I do not recommend this option. With today’s increase in construction costs, wage and benefits costs, zero increase is very difficult.

If elected again, I will ensure to start the budget at a zero increase, review each department line by line, and analyze the results so the over effect on the tax levy will be as minimal as possible.

David Celetti Ward 4

Another age-old question … Taxes are always the most asked question .

I feel every councillor and the mayor want to keep taxes at a minimum.

However at this point I have to say that I do not have the city budget in front of me to properly assess and give you a straight up answer.

Martin Poirier Ward 5

Spending in itself is not a problem, and our taxes are far from “a minimum”. I do not think they should be either.

Spending becomes an issue when it exceeds our capacity to pay for it. If you think we are slowly reaching that point in this city, data backs you up.

Two variables best capture our capacity to pay: how many we are, and how much we earn.

Our population declined 1.8% in the 5 years to 2021, so we are now less to share the city’s expenses.

Our average household income in 2020 was $89 600 (median $73k). Compare that with Ontario as a whole: population increase of 5.8% and average household income was $116 000 (median $91k).

Our taxes were $1 708 per person in 2021, above Ontario’s average of $1 695 – so quite far from minimum.

In other words, we pay per person more taxes than most in Ontario, but we earn considerably less.

Bringing our taxes to “a minimum” is not easily done, nor is it something we should wish for. It would mean harsh cuts, and underinvestment in our core infrastructure.

My position is that current tax level is too high considering our demographic and revenue structures.

I propose we make small cuts slowly, but steadily, with an aim to reduce spending by 1.5% over the next 4 years based on 2022, in constant dollars. This is a moderate position as it would only bring back net tax per person to where it was a few years back.

For cuts, I would target economic development because some of what is done there is not essential. Do we need to use our taxes to own a start-up making a new hot sauce, or to fill in applications for which we have no chance at all like for an Amazon distribution centre that would require more workers than presently exist in the whole town?

We must remember that we will need to support our workers’ pensions, and that this is a burden for the next generation. These things are better left to the private sector.

Finally, we should stop pedalling around for unnecessary and costly new projects.

Gideon Down Ward 5

Steps I would take to keep spending and taxes to a minimum.

1. Make sure that all residential, commercial, and industrial tax mil rates are in line with the Ontario average, and work to get our city budget into this margin.

2. Commit to no new project spending for 1 year, so we can get a better idea on what the base financial requirements are to run the city. After the one year has passed, adjust property tax mil rates as necessary, with reasonable spending budgets in mind, and proceed with caution on future projects, based on actual tax revenue in place of raising taxes.

3. City wide Feed In Idea Program (FIIP). Property tax paying members of our city have seen ways to make things more efficient. Some of them have worked in city jobs in our area for 40+ years. If any member of our city can come up with cost saving measures, they will get a one time 5% portion, of the annual savings back on their property taxes (full value, up to their yearly tax bill), or as a cash payment (taxable), once the savings have been recognized during that year. (Ideas cannot be cutting jobs, or reducing employees pay, benefits, etc.) Annual savings on the cities side would be applied to debt, or used to reduce property tax mil rates.

4. Hold contractors accountable and responsible for project quotes, timelines, and overages.

5. Track project estimates and bids vs actual project budgets for all contractors used by the city, including after completion repair costs, so that bids are awarded to contractors we can trust to do quality work on budget and on time.

Corey Gardi Ward 5

In order to keep local spending and taxes to a minimum we have to continue to work with other levels of government to ensure we receive support for initiatives and infrastructure in the Sault.

We also have to work hard at attracting residents and businesses to our community so we can broaden the tax base, so the burden is spread out amongst more households and businesses.

Having more contributing to our tax base will make the most immediate and substantial impact. Council and staff need to continue to work with developers to support appropriate residential development, we should consider feedback we receive from developers to work towards the most supportive, yet responsible processes.

As we do annually, we need to review departments for efficiencies and annually review our fee structure for different services. I also believe by providing further digital options for certain services/permitting we could reduce the cost of some of these items/areas.

Matthew Scott Ward 5

As a councillor I have, and will continue to, put the taxpayer first.

In each of my decisions over the past four years I have always taken into account that we are spending taxpayer money.

I consider the demographics of our community and realize many are on fixed incomes who would prefer to see money spent on improving our services rather than spending it on projects and services that are not thought of as essential.

My philosophy on council has always been to spend money where it makes sense and benefits the majority of taxpayers, this includes things such as roads, ditches, and existing infrastructure.

I have also taken into consideration that the proposed operational costs of many projects will far exceed what has been presented, this is one of my reasons for being opposed to the downtown plaza project.

Over the last four years, I like to think that my voting record will stand as one that is prudent and responsible.

I was the only city councillor to vote against overspending on the Hudson St. property and was one of three to vote against the Mill Market relocation and plaza project. I was also one of a handful against spending the money to move the bus terminal, which we now know has also run over initial cost estimates.

I know we will have some very tough budgets in the upcoming four years but I truly believe that I am fit for such a task given my commitment to saving money as proven by my voting record over the last term.