Bigger vows tax freeze in first year if elected mayor

Bigger said he has a plan to find money in the budget to allow him to maintain existing services and freeze taxes, although he didn't say specifically where he would find the necessary savings.

Next year's budget will be a difficult one, with the city already expecting a $3.1-million cut in transfers from the province, and a $2.6-million hole left by a decision this spring to freeze development charges for two years. Increased spending on roads, water and sewer infrastructure and to pay for the $60-million biosolids plant are also in the work.

Former Mayor Jim Gordon froze property taxes for several years when he was mayor in the 1990s and at the turn of the century. The policy is now getting partial blame for the more than $1-billion infrastructure deficit in roads and sewer maintenance. But Bigger said Sudbury's economy is struggling and residents and business alike “need a break.

“People are talking about moving beyond the boundaries of Greater Sudbury,” he said. “Businesses are talking about other businesses not wanting to come into Sudbury.”

Bigger's pledge is reminiscent of one made by current Mayor Marianne Matichuk, who, during her campaign in 2010, vowed to go through the budget “line by line” to find savings. However, she wasn't able to keep her pledge to limit increases to the rate of inflation, with property taxes going up by 3.5 per cent in 2011, 2.8 per cent in 2012 and 2.9 per cent in 2013 and 2014.

But Bigger said his background in accounting and familiarity with city departments and budgets will give him an advantage. And he said the plan could be funded through some of the ideas in his internal audits. Those ideas include increasing user fees for sports fields and other services, and reducing garbage collection from weekly pickups to once every two weeks.

“There are no sacred cows,” Bigger said, adding police and firefighting budgets will come under scrutiny as he looks for savings. “One thing we know, Sudbury can't afford the credit card approach to spending. We can't afford the tax-and-spend approach by past mayors and councillors.”

With early forecasts pegging next year's tax hike at 4.9 per cent, Bigger said city staff has already pledged to go through the books again and improve on that number.

“Then it's up to (city) council to ask the right questions and challenge those (program) budgets management brings forward,” he said.

“It will be tough. And we must take a tough line on taxes. As I said, businesses are telling us that they can't grow. Our economy is not growing. Our population is not growing. We have to manage our taxes and fees to encourage growth.”

Voters in Sudbury – and across Ontario – go to the polls Oct. 27.