Mayor touts teamwork for tax freeze

I am extremely proud of our team.

On March 5, 2015 Council and City of Greater Sudbury staff worked together to hold our taxes for 2015. It took a great deal of hard work to get there, but it was something I promised, and what I believed could happen.

As I have stated over the last few months, we owe it to the citizens of Sudbury to understand where your hard-earned money is being spent prior to asking for more. Holding your taxes for this year will allow us to do just that. I have requested business plans be developed and these will inform our 2015 operations and 2016 budget process.

I am honoured to lead a team that brought unique ideas to the table, balancing fiscal sustainability with addressing key issues and making the city more liveable. Chair Mike Jakubo, and vice-chair Deb McIntosh led Council and staff through the entire process, and I commend them, as well as the CFO and her team.

We can see a number of initiatives being funded this year, including investment in cycling infrastructure, watershed studies, transit wayfinding and addressing drainage issues on Mountain Street.

In order to hold the taxes, we have allocated some money from reserves.

It’s important to note that we have directed staff to find this money and return it to the reserves in 2015 through initiatives like attrition, benchmarking and the sale of property.
 
I am confident that staff, with clear direction of council, will work to get us there. In fact, in the last week the City has has found almost $2 million through the sale of property. This money will be returned to the reserves, requiring us to now return approximately $4 million.
 
Our 2015 budget also provides $15 million more for capital projects than was spent on in 2014. We can still invest in things like roads and bridges, while providing Sudburians some relief.
 
We are pleased to be working for you to get these initiatives underway.

Brian Bigger is mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury.