Mayor Keith Hobbs is making it his mandate to probe the underbelly of Thunder Bay.
Hobbs addressed a long list of social issues plaguing the City, in his inaugural speach, Monday night. He says solutions for the caues of crime, like affordable housing, need to be attached to other supports.
“I’m hoping that the province and the feds are going to come to the table for those dollars. They need to. Housing is a federal issue, and addiction and alcohol,” he says.”Those shouldn’t be under the domain of municipalities. Those should be provincial issues.”
Hobbs says Council will have a better grip on how to get a handle on social issues, once a strategic plan for the next four years is built.Hobbs adds the City hears your concerns over property taxes.
He says budget pressures are brought on in part by harsher winters, and that while Council hopes to address tax increases to lighten the load on homeowners, the 2015 budget is burdened by higher seasonal maintenance costs.”I think we’re going to have to come down a bit on what we’ve been spending on infrastructure, and look at the operational side of things,” says Hobbs.
“I think that was glaring with the last two winters. Operations and snow removal really bit into our budget.”He adds 75 per cent of tax increases have gone toward needed infrastructure renewal. (Photo: Caryn Ceolin)
