Sudbury continues to deliberate 2020 budget

The proposed property tax increase in Greater Sudbury currently sits at 3.55 per cent, but there are still two more days of deliberations to hammer out the 2020 municipal budget.

The city's finance committee approved some of the larger budgets Tuesday, including the water-wastewater operating and capital budgets.

The water-wastewater capital budget is $39,086,247, with contributions coming from user fees ($435,501,592), federal grants ($960,000) and city reserve and reserve funds ($5,624,655).

The water-wastewater operating budget was approved at $82,776,283.

So homeowners will be paying 4.8 per cent more for municipal water next year.

The water user rate increase came from the city's new water-wastewater financial plan adopted this past summer. That increase will continue over the next 20 years to ensure fiscal sustainability of city assets.

"It's not so much a deficit today, but a projection on what we think we need to spend over the time period of the financial plan," manager of growth and infrastructure Tony Ceccuti explained to councillors.

Councillor Deb McIntosh thought that user increase should be higher to help deal with the city's aging pipes and capacity issues at certain facilities when there are storm events.

"If we went to 6.2 per cent which would close the infrastructure gap or bring us to sustainability in 15 years, rather than 20 years, the cost would be 21 cents a day, so the difference is 4 cents a day," she said.

"I don't know if whether there's an appetite to increase the rate to provide an additional, I think it's one million dollars in capital funding towards our infrastructure renewal of our water-wastewater."

No one supported her request.

Budgets approved for outside boards

On day one of budget deliberations, the Finance committee approved outside board budgets.

Those organization made budget presentations last month.

For the Nickel District Conservation Authority, the city's share of the tax supported budget is $1,018,094.

For the city's share of the Public Health Sudbury and Districts' budget, the finance committee approved $6,949,771. This is a 10 per cent increase mainly due to provincial cuts to the health unit's funding.

The city's share of the 2020 budget for police services was approved at $68,587,049, which is a 4.9 per cent increase from 2019.

Police chief Paul Pedersen had told the committee that a good portion of the police budget was for mental health and wellness supports for officers, as well as additional resources for the cyber crime unit.

"We're talking about the percentages of the police budget, but we also know that the police in our community are needed," councillor Mark Signoretti said.

"With other forms of crime that are out there, and with the opioid crisis that they're having to deal with, I'm all in favour of the police budget."

"We'll find the $50,000 somewhere."

Sudbury city councillors decided not to cut a $50,000 grant to Sudbury's Social Planning Council, so it can continue its work in the community.

That non-profit group addresses poverty and social inequality in Greater Sudbury.

Last week that operational grant was on the chopping block.

Several councillors, including Fern Cormier, spoke about the impact the non-profit group has had in the community, calling them an invaluable asset.

"I understand the pressures on our budget. We all do," he said, "But when it comes to the services that are delivered, I can guarantee you that if I look at what is being done by the Social Planning Council and just speaking from my ward and the impact that I've seen that they have the value is there  — there's no way we as a corporation would be able to deliver the same thing for the $50,000."

Cormier says a lot of the work by the Social Planning Council is done quietly yet has a big impact on quality of life.

"My ask is that — bare minimum — that we get through this year with this and give them an opportunity to deliver the goods, so to speak. And demonstrate the deliverables that they're providing to our community," Cormier said.

"We'll find the $50,000 somewhere," said Mayor Brian Bigger, who told the committee he sees the work of the Social Planning Council as a valuable element in the Sudbury community.

Because the Finance Committee added the $50,000 grant back into the 2020 proposed budget, it bumped the proposed tax levy to 3.55 per cent, which may change again before deliberations are finalized.

The councillors still need to approve the city's base operating budget for municipal operations.

The City of Greater Sudbury's proposed operating budget for 2020 is $614.9 million. That's a difference of roughly 21-million, from the 2019 operating budget which was calculated at $593 million.

One item on the agenda that is sure to create discussion during deliberations is a special proposed 1.5 per cent capital levy that would be used as an investment into Sudbury's aging infrastructure. This would be in addition to the final property tax increase.

That's scheduled to be discussed on Wednesday evening.