Councillor 'uncomfortable' with new budget process

Sudbury city councillors will have to spend more time poring over the draft 2017 municipal budget after concerns were raised about a new approval process.

"I'm uncomfortable with this," councillor Robert Kirwan said during Tuesday's finance and administration meeting. 

"What do we have to do? Do we have to go through each page now and say how did you do this and how did you do that?" 

This year, councillors are tasked with voting on a summary package of services and service levels that result in no more than a 3.6 per cent property tax increase. 

Only one meeting was originally scheduled to go over specifics from the budget document, whereas a series of meetings used to be held in the past to hear presentations from various city departments.

"This is too much of a leap of faith," said Kirwan. 

"I think it should be deferred. I'm not putting a motion on the floor. . . But every time I look at one of these things [resolutions] I'm wondering what did we approve."

'Exactly what we asked for'

Councillors had three weeks to ask staff about the proposed budget. In total, 95 questions were submitted over email and shared with the rest of the committee. 

Projected 2017 figures were compared to what each department spent in 2016 to get the lowest cost for the city's new financial forecast, according to CAO Ed Archer. 

"This is the direction we've given to staff," Mayor Brian Bigger said. 

"I think it's exactly what we asked for when we asked for a 3.6 per cent increase."

Councillors spent almost five hours during Tuesday's meeting bringing motions forward and asking staff questions for clarification.

They agreed to scrap proposed swimming lesson fees at the Howard Armstrong Recreation Centre that could have brought in $22,500. 

They also decided to create a new management coordinator position to look after the city's assets in departments, such as roads and parks, for a cost of approximately $122,000 per year. 

Both of those decisions still have to go to a final vote before the 2017 draft budget is passed. 

It is expected the committee will make more tweaks to the city's financial plan when they resume deliberations next Wednesday.