North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce News Release ******************** The Board of Directors of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce has passed a resolution requesting that the City postpone the proposed $500,000 increase to the Long
North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce News Release
********************
The Board of Directors of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce has passed a resolution requesting that the City postpone the proposed $500,000 increase to the Long Term Capital Funding allowance in the 2009 Operating Budget.
This in itself will reduce the proposed rate increase from 2.9% down to approximately 1.9% this year.
After being called upon, during his initial presentation to Council, to present solutions to reduce the tax increase, Chamber President, Sean Lawlor says, “that over the past several weeks, the Chamber has investigated some options, and we’ve identified one that we feel should be considered seriously by Council, prior to adopting their final budget in March. So, as requested, we’re going to be there on Monday night to present our recommendation”.
Lawlor says, “this offers a solution that doesn’t cut services, but rather avoids a $500,000 increase to the operating budget, which will be funded 100% by the local taxpayer, at a time when businesses and residents can least afford it.”
The Chamber also feels that the effect of postponing the increase won’t be nearly as significant this year, as it would have been if the Capital budget were not inflated with Airport Runway Funding and Invest in Ontario Act funding, for a total budget of more than 40M this year.
And finally, Lawlor states, “this solution does not significantly impact the focus of the City’s long term game plan. In fact, it represents less than 1% of the total capital budget proposed for this year, which is a slight deviation at best.
Needless to say, construction activity will remain strong in North Bay, even if this $500,000 tax increase is postponed.”
Lawlor summarized by saying, “we’ve heard from a lot of people over the past few months who are very concerned about the proposed tax increase in these turbulent economic times. We’re calling on all of them now, to come out on Monday night to show their support’.
