Mayor Christian Provenzano
Volume 1, Edition 1: February 2018
Connecting with our community
We wanted to put something together
beyond the usual social media channels
and press releases to further engage-
ment with the community. This publica-
tion provides us with another avenue to
keep in touch and keep you informed
about what we are doing in and around
City Hall.
City Council recently approved the Com-
munity Development Roundtable which
was one of the recommendations of the
Waving Flags
Community Adjustment Committee Re-
port. Like many smaller city centers, we
certainly face some challenges and the
adjustment committee report offers an
honest and sincere assessment of those
challenges. I’m a firm believer in devel-
Creating opportunities for our youth
I had the opportunity to attend the offi-
cial grand opening of St. Basil Catholic
oping a plan to address challenges and
we have done just that. The full report is
available on the FutureSSM website and I
encourage people to review it. The re-
port includes several recommendations
that the City will work on through the
Community Development Roundtable
and with our community partners.
The report highlighted three key areas:
population and demographic trends,
economic diversity and business devel-
opment, and quality of life. In summa-
tion, addressing complacency and a fail-
ure to adopt innovative strategies for
overcoming systemic issues was identi-
fied as a necessary aspect of dealing with
root causes behind the aforementioned
Elementary School this winter. One of
the great things about being the Mayor
is meeting with and learning from our
community’s youth.
Listening to and talking with students
always leaves me optimistic about what
they will accomplish and motivated to
ensure they see a future and a place for
themselves here in Sault Ste. Marie.
We want our city to be the place where
our youth accomplish great things. Re-
cently, the Mayor’s Youth Advisory
March 2018
areas of concern.
In a significant shift from the status quo,
the City’s approach to community and
economic development has been refo-
cused since the release of the report.
The City has taken a more proactive role
through the creation of a community
development and enterprise division.
I often speak about a holistic approach
when it comes to community and eco-
nomic development, and I feel this new
department reflects this approach. It will
play a significant role in the implementa-
tion of CAC recommendations, which
moves forward this year, and I will be
updating the community throughout the
process.
Council (MYAC) hosted its annual Art
Gala at City Hall. It was a great event
which showcased the tremendous talent
in our community and raised money for
ARCH.
MYAC was created in 2015 to empower
Sault Ste. Marie’s youth and encourage
them to take active roles in our commu-
nity. I continue to be impressed with the
leadership they show, and I’m pleased
what was envisioned when MYAC was
created has come to pass thanks to the
dedicated of its members.
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 Breaking down the budget

Find out more about

your city’s budget

Preliminary budget
With the municipal budget approved for this However, there is a balance we need to
year, I want to provide further clarification maintain and services that we have to pro-
How property taxes are about our situation and the process that has
calculated vide from snow removal, to garbage collec-
helped lead members of City Council to this tion, to maintenance of local roads and pub-
point.
BMA Management lic transportation. We want to ensure we
Consulting 2017 Study The chart included above post breaks down are providing an appropriate level of ser-
the significant numbers behind the final vice, while keeping your final tax rate rea-
total. sonable.
The external category represents funding From a 1.89% increase in 2015, to 1.29% in
the City provides to help boards and agen- 2016, to 1.04% in 2017 and now 0.99% in
cies operate. Examples include our two local 2018, we are committed to keeping munici-
school boards and Algoma Public Health. pal spending increases at a reasonable level.
The surplus/reserve category represents an We appreciate and understand that for
increase or decrease in taxes collected that many, any increase is difficult to manage
Get in touch with your is set aside as surplus or reserve. This past
Mayor Part of our responsibility as members of
fall, council approved a new policy directing
council is to look at the budget presented by
Mayor’s Office any surplus funds to a tax stabilization re-
City staff and find areas where savings can
99 Foster Drive, 4th Floor serve and a capital reserve, along with re-
705-759-5344 be achieved. I feel members of council are
duction of the City's long term debt. Ulti-
Mayor.Provenzano now able to perform this task more effec-
mately, the policy is designed to lower the
@cityssm.on.ca tively. During this council term, we have
burden on taxpayers.
driven important budgetary changes. We
The Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund now budget earlier in the year, with presen-
(OMPF) grant is another factor in this pro- tations and discussions about city depart-
cess. The year-to-year fluctuation of this ments/outside agencies beginning well in
grant is out of our control, but dealing with advance of the end of the current budget
the fallout remains our responsibility. For year.
example, if the City’s OMPF grant is reduced
This new process ensures members of coun-
by $1 million next year, we would either
Stay in touch on cil have access to a quality information,
need to raise revenues or decrease expens-
Social media which helps us make decisions about the
es (or some combination of the two) by $1
budget. It is a process we now have more
million.
@MayorProvenzano influence over.
So, I want to get to what council does have
Moving forward, I’m confident we’ve devel-
a significant say on and control over: City
oped an effective system to handle the
@CCProvenzano spending. City’s budget. This does not mean we’ve
Spending is an issue this council has worked come up with a perfect plan not in need of
hard to address. All spending has to be re- tweaking on an ongoing basis, but I do feel
@Mayor.Provenzano we have a solid foundation.
spectful of the taxpayer and consistent with
the economic reality of the community.

2
 Keeping up with City Council
City Council meetings span hours and cover a below need and the percentage of our popu-
Monthly community wide variety of topics and I thought I would lation over the age of 75 continues to grow.
events highlight a few of the items that came before SAH wants to establish a long-term-care facili-
council in February. ty and support services built on its current
property.
Update on FutureSSM progress - The Com-
munity Development Roundtable is close to New MOUs for SSMEDC and SSMIC – Council
being finalized. The subgroups are: Health has approved a new Memorandum of Under-
Sector, Education/Workforce, Downtown De- standings for the Economic Development Cor-
velopment, Economic Diversity/Growth, Social poration and Innovation Centre. The MOUs
Equity, Arts/Culture and Energy/ clearly outline the expectations of council,
Entertainment. We are pulling together mem- along with the roles and responsibilities of
bers our community to identify and study/ both agencies. I am confident the agreements
recommend opportunities in each of the are- will further our productive working relation-
as. I am hopeful and optimistic a major pro- ship. I feel the City has a role to play in eco-
ject will result from this group’s work. nomic development, and it is incumbent upon
us to bring people in our community together
Shape the Sault – The City’s Planning Services
to address opportunities and better compete
and Enterprise Services department has
against other municipalities.
launched a new official plan project, called
Shape the Sault. An official plan is a legal doc- A new shopping centre – Council has ap-
ument approved by Council that contains the proved a re-zoning application for a proposed
community’s vision and goals for the city. The shopping centre to be built on Great Northern
plan serves as a guide for the current and fu- Road. The portion of the site in question has
ture growth of our built environment. The been re-zoned from highway zone to shop-
City’s current plan was written more than 20 ping centre commercial zone and part of the
years ago, and a new plan represents the op- land has been re-designation from industrial
portunity to articulate our plan for the next to commercial. The land has been mostly va-
two decades. The project’s main goal is to cant for two decades, and the project put
develop a plan that reflects a shared commu- forward by local businessman Ben Pino will
nity vision, and community members are be- see a centre comprised of a grocery store,
ing asked to submit suggestions online, on pharmacy and other commercial space possi-
social media or at open houses. It is a chance bly including a restaurant. About 100 jobs are
for the public to let the City know about what expected to be created and it is expected to
they want to see included in the plan. For open in 2019.
example, if you want to see more bike trails or
Honouring Black History Month – February
farmers’ markets, you can have an impact on
presented us with the chance to mark Black
shaping our what our community looks like.
History Month at council once again. One of
Supporting Sault Area Hospital’s plans – my fondest memories of the past four years
Council has unanimously supported SAH’s was chairing the City Council meeting back in
funding applications to the North East Local 2016 when a proclamation for Black History
Health Integration Network’s for more long- Month was read for the first time in our city’s
term care beds and create a Level III Residen- history, and it was a very gratifying experience
tial Withdrawal Management Service program for me to be the one sitting in the Mayor’s
Invite the Mayor to your and facility. The need for both plans is great, chair to read it out. Each year reading the
event as outlined in a presentation to council. The proclamation continues to be a highlight, and
Algoma region has a higher than provincial I want to recognize the African Caribbean Ca-
Request a greeting average number of emergency department nadian Association of Northern Ontario
visits resulting from opioid use, the hospital’s (ACCANO). ACCANO has had a wide-spread
Mayor’s Blog current detoxification is more than 40 years effect on our community by promoting the
old and no longer suitable. In terms of long- sharing of culture, and members have helped
term care beds, community capacity is way create a more welcoming environment.