Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette remains hopeful that the City of North Bay’s operating budget can be finalized before the calendar turns to 2018.
Forgette says that while the estimated tax levy had been pegged at 0.8 per cent last week, developments from the service agencies have pushed that number back to 1.3 per cent.
He says that the discrepancy comes from budgets being returned for more fine-tuning to the Police Service and Capitol Centre, and the absence of a budget from DNSSAB. Forgette says that factoring in some of the numbers from those entities has brought the levy back north of one per cent.
The DNSSAB budget, Forgette has been told, will come in with an increase “around two per cent.”
Ultimately, the City controls the flow of money to these agencies, says Forgette. There are certain service partners who can levy the City regardless. Forgette names the police and social service board as two such partners.
Playing hardball with the City could lead to a court battle, says Forgette, but is not a road the City would necessarily look to go down when the legal fees are considered.
