Sault Ste. Marie budget hike largest in five years

Sault Ste. Marie has confirmed its budget for 2022, which includes a property tax hike of just more than four per cent, the biggest increase in the last five years.

City council approved the new budget Monday night after getting the police board to rework its costs for the year.

The $500,000 in savings the board found is barely making a dent to the tax hike. City Coun. Lisa Vezeau-Allen said most of the cost is incurred by social services and Algoma Public Health, who are dealing with a poverty crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Say if your taxes are $2,800-$3,000 annually, the cost to that ratepayer per month is under $10," Vezeau-Allen said. "So I feel better that our homelessness population is being taken care of, Algoma Public Health has the tools that it needs."

Council passed a resolution introduced by Vezeau-Allen that allows city administrators to help police in its civilian roles.

She said that will reduce future spending and improve policing.

"It's really, really important from our perspective as the police board and just as a citizen of our community, we want to see police budget dollars go into officers on the ground," Vezeau-Allen said.

City council also approved the purchase of new fare boxes for its buses, with an eye on reducing operating costs. The director of community services said the change will make using the bus easier and eventually lead to an increase in ridership.

"We were experiencing some challenges with respect to proper recording and tracking, so bus drivers would have to manually hit a button so that the fare was tracked," said Brent Lamming.

A buyer has also been found for the M.S. Norgoma, an aging ship that the city has been paying to dock at Algoma Steel since 2019.

Vezeau-Allen said the city isn't getting much up front but will free up $40 per day it's spending to dock the boat.