CHAMBER WHITE PAPER REGARDING 2013 CITY BUDGET DELIBERATIONS AND MOVING FORWARD.

January 16, 2013

1375 Seymour Street North Bay, ON P1B 9V6

1. Chamber supports the need for continued capital investment. Agrees that Capital Budget does need some flexibility to move downwards in challenging years but also to move upwards as revenues increase. Infrastructure challenges are facing not just North Bay but all municipalities and we applaud Council and staffs continuing efforts to address this, yet being mindful of what the community can afford. Will also continue to favour capital investments that have the best chance of a return on investment with the potential to give us additional revenues in the future such as the Pinewood Park Development and the Airport Industrial Park. 2. Chamber is fully behind Councils # 1 priority of economic development and jobs. We believe more resources may need to be reallocated to economic development from other areas in budget. Although the Chamber has full confidence in the leadership of the Economic Development Department of the City, we acknowledge that this is still a small group with limited resources for such an important portfolio. To that end, the Chamber will work hand in hand with our economic development committee to assist in achieving the goals of jobs and growth. Some municipalities in Canada make funds available to local Chambers of Commerce to assist the municipality in specific areas and the Chamber is open to that discussion. 3. Chamber continues to believe property tax increases need to be kept at or around the cost of living. With inflation running at one of its lowest levels in recent times we know this will be a challenge but we would only support a maximum tax rate of just below 2% for this year and welcome the CAO to find additional savings during his operational review due in October that could be applied to the 2014 budget. Whether we like it or not we are in a competition with other municipalities as to where residents choose to reside and tax rates play a part in that decision and we need to make North Bay the most desirable choice. The Chamber applauds Councils efforts in past years of reducing commercial and industrial taxes and will assist the City in marketing our very competitive rates in these categories. We are confident Mr. Knox will have some solid suggestions through his review for council to adopt, as well as Best Practices and other measurements for efficiencies; and, we would support Mr. Knox in this opportunity as the new CAO to set the parameters and provide the review to Council.

Tel: 705.472.8480 Fax: 705.472.8027 www.northbaychamber.com

4. Chamber is not in favour of looking at OPP costing out of our police services or looking at a voluntary component to our fire services. We believe our members are well served by a local and dedicated emergency services and the fine job they do. In the long run, potential savings now may not translate into future savings. We do however share Councils concerns about the ever escalating costs of providing these services and insist that 3 to 5 % increases are not affordable by the community and therefore challenge council, staff, and Chiefs to reduce these yearly increases. 5. Chamber believes in looking at reducing overtime by a minimum of 10% in the citys budget. Private sector does not budget for overtime and normally provides time-off in lieu, restructures employee hours and monitors budgets regularly in the event emergencies occur. Flexibility and/or delays may occur for other projects when emergencies occur. We understand that emergencies happen but overtime should never be considered an entitlement or not in need of critical examination. We believe that 10% is a realistic goal for City Managers to accomplish, especially in areas of what is noted as administration in the Citys budgeting; this has the potential of resulting in over $100,000 in savings for this year and potentially more in future budgets. 6. Although everyone is tired of talking about OMPF the Chambers own research shows that North Bay continues to get the least net benefit per household of any municipality in Northern Ontario from this program. We understand the province has fiscal challenges but we deserve to be on par with other municipalities and will assist the City in making our case to provincial leaders. 7. Chamber fully supports councils efforts in bringing an OHL team to North Bay as well as the 12 million renovations to Memorial Gardens. One city in Ontario is getting an OHL team this year and that is us! We applaud the CAO and Managing Director of Community Services efforts in this regard as well as their commitment in ensuring this project will not go over budget. We will also work with City to help attract new events, concerts, conventions, etc... to an expanded Memorial Gardens that can bring increased revenues to the city. 8. We hear from our members that Pete Palangio and West Ferris arenas are past their best before date and while a study was undertaken recently of these facilities, we believe the City needs to look at replacing these and developing a plan to do so. Provincial and Federal funding is not available for arenas but we understand they are more readily available for community centres. The Chamber will assist the City in this regard and may have to look at unique arrangements with the YMCA to grow with them and look at the entire area surrounding Memorial Gardens and determine whether this area has potential for expansion. We are fully aware that all this costs money but we need to start this process and involve all stakeholders. 9. We are very proud of the Immigration Strategy that the City has implemented; however we believe the city also needs to have a

Youth Strategy. Unemployment levels not unlike many northern municipalities remain alarmingly high in the 18-29 demographic and the Chamber pledges to work with the City with our Young Professionals Group at the chamber and partners at the Labour Market Group, Colleges and other stakeholders to develop a cohesive strategy and avoid redundancies to streamline our efforts. 10. We support the Community Waterfront efforts and believe Council, City staff, DIA, and the Chamber should look at ways of having complimentary commercial development at the waterfront in an effort to boost tax revenues. Many municipalities have been able to achieve a balance between business development and community development that benefits all and increases tax revenue for the municipality. We believe at the very least a discussion needs to take place. 11. Chamber believes in the Steve Omischl complex and its importance and will work with the City to attract events to the city as well as look at branding opportunities that will assist again in bringing revenues back to the municipality. 12. Chamber supports the opening of a casino in North Bay and will assist in working with the City and the proponent, if needed, to identify a suitable location as well as job fairs for needed workers. 13. Tourism in our area continues to face challenges with high gas prices, high Canadian dollar, as well as government regulations. There needs to be a high level discussion with the Minister of Tourism, City leaders, as well as all stakeholders to ensure that the needs of North Bay and area tourist operators and hospitality sector are met. The Chamber will seek a meeting with Tourism Minister this spring. 14. Chamber continues to support Summer in the Park as a valuable tool in bringing the community together, showcasing North Bay as well as creating economic benefits for the community. It has a huge return on the investment. Although these events are costly and demanding for volunteers, we would also like to look at having a discussion on bringing back a Winter Carnival as well as partnering with our military in looking at ways to bring back some form of an airshow. 15. Finally, we believe that our goals cannot be accomplished by simply increasing spending or in turn reducing spending. We need to put aside any politics at all levels and although we will never agree on everything, we agree that we want North Bay to be the finest, most affordable and vibrant community it can be. The Chamber will be a leader on behalf of our members to accomplish these goals.