Sudbury property tax freeze means finding $8M in budget savings

Greater Sudbury city staff have presentedtheirblueprint for achieving the property tax freezethe newly elected mayor and council promised during the election.

In short, it involves finding $8.4 million in the 2015 budget.

Some of that would come from increased user fees. Staff suggested the city redefine a senior as someone 65 or older. This means Sudburians over 55 who currently enjoy seniors discounts to ride city transit, use recreational facilities and park in city-run lots will have to pay the regular adult rate. Staff estimate this will bring in an extra $175,000.

Other proposed fee increases include raising $161,000 by charging people who use Transcab$3.75 a ride. Transcab is currently a freetaxi service that covers areas of Greater Sudburynot on bus routes, such as Whitefish, Wahnapitae, Long Lake, Dowling and Levack.

City staff also suggested cutting $2.5 million worth of projects approved by the last council.These includepostponing $1.2 million worth of infrastructure work for the industrial area off Elisabella Street in New Sudbury, a$500,000 document management system, the $95,000 Rock of Fame attraction recognizing prominentSudburians and $500,000 worth of improvements to the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre.

Challenging process

Chief administrative officer Doug Nadorozny said these cuts were chosen because they have "no real harm in the short term" since council could decide to re-commit the dollars in the future.

But he did refer to this budget as a"challenging process" for staff.

On top of those cuts, the staff plan also includes dropping another $2.4 million worth of infrastructure and other projects from the city's to-do list for 2015.

About $2 million would also be pulled out of city reserve funds.

Chief financial officer Lorella Hayes said inserting one-time dollars like these into the budget "should be avoided" because it then puts the city further behind to balance the books in 2016.

Sudbury city council heard theplan for the first time on Monday night, but there was no discussion during the meeting and council moved on to the next item on the agenda.

But afterwards, Ward 4councillor Evelyn Dutrisac said she didn't like much of staff's plan, in particular the "targeting" of seniors and suggested that budget savings could be found where past councils have always looked for them, by going line by line through the budget.

That's what city council is set to do over the next few weeks, leading up to a final budget vote in late February or early March.