Thompson city council's April 25 meeting was short but 3 resolutions and 2 readings of an election-related bylaw were approved in less than half-an-hour.
McInnis said chief financial officer Jenny Krentz compared Thompson’s mill rates with those in other communities around the province and that they are “quite competitive,” though there are factors that affect what that means for the city in terms of actual numbers. “Unlike a lot of communities that are a lot heavier on commercial properties, Thompson is mostly residential properties that bear the brunt of any sort of taxation burden,” said McInnis, as the city has 67 per cent residential properties, 27 per cent commercial properties and six per cent institutional properties. He also cautioned that mill rates aren’t always an oranges-to-oranges comparison point as some communities have low mill rates but many special levies for everything from garbage collection to firefighting, while Thompson has only one special levy, with all other services funded by mill rates and external grants.