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Where Do They Stand? Does Greater Sudbury have a taxation problem?

We asked the mayoral candidates to weigh in
calculator taxes accounting stock
Greater Sudbury actually has a fairly low tax rate compared to other Ontario cities, but tax increases have been steep in recent years. We asked candidates to explain their positions on taxation.

Voters want to know where the candidates stand on the issues and so does Sudbury.com.

To that end, we’ve created a new election feature: Where Do They Stand? We picked nine issues that mattered to us, and reached out to the mayoral candidates and invited them to give us their answers.

Each candidate has 250 words or less to stake out their position on each of these issues: the Kingsway Entertainment District (KED); expanded casino gambling; large project spending; downtown Sudbury and the urban-rural divide; taxation (everyone’s favourite); roads (always top of mind in Sudbury); the health of our lakes; the state of firefighting in the city, and; transparency, openness and leadership.

We’ll be rolling a new story every weekday, an election issue per day leading up to Election Day.

Taxation is always an issue, for every level of government, at any time of the year, but particularly during election campaigns. Greater Sudbury actually has a fairly low tax rate compared to other Ontario cities, but tax increases have been steep in recent years. We asked candidates to explain their positions on taxation.

Read on and find out exactly what the candidates think. Now, every candidate was invited to participate, but not all of them chose to do so. Here are the answers from those who did.

Rodney NewtonTroy Crowder, and David Popescu did not supply answers.

You can click on each candidate’s name to visit their page on the Sudbury.com election website.

This is the question we asked: 

Greater Sudbury has one of the lowest tax rates of any major Ontario city, but the tax rate has grown faster over the past decade than most other municipalities in the province. This is true for all major cities in Northern Ontario. Line-by-line promises have become de rigueur during elections but rarely lead anywhere. Does Sudbury have a taxation problem? Explain your position.

Brian Bigger (incumbent)

Our only tax problem is that we cover a massive amount of geography and our population is declining. We need to attract more people to come and live in Greater Sudbury and we need to have real reasons to keep people, especially young professionals from leaving. We need to have a city with good jobs across the spectrum of fields and industries. Mining and film are doing great. We need to keep our emerging tech sector and foster it to expand. We need more taxpayers, earning good incomes … that’s how we remedy any taxation problems. 

Cody Cacciotti

The City of Greater Sudbury is unsustainable with regard to infrastructure.  In order to stabilize tax increases, the City of Greater Sudbury must expand its tax base. To do so, we must promote an environment that will encourage growth and break down barriers preventing economic opportunity. There is a need to review processes related to development and ensure that the municipality is indeed “business friendly.” 

The City of Greater Sudbury must commit to further facilitating the process of establishing new opportunities for developers, business owners and entrepreneurs making Greater Sudbury the place of choice for business development. The city must also be thorough in its approach to courting major investment opportunities which includes relying on local expertise, leveraging local assets and allowing for community consultation. We must also pair economic development with a commitment to ensure Sudburians are getting the best value for their tax dollar.  For each tax dollar spent, the citizens of Sudbury should be receiving the best possible service that we can provide.

Bill Crumplin

Taxes are a huge concern for many Sudburians I have spoken with.  It does not matter to them that we have one of the lowest tax rates. The property tax burden is serious for some.  

Line-by-line budgeting is a way that some people feel we can find efficiencies and reduce the budget and, therefore, tax increases. I am certain the city has many qualified money managers especially in our finance department. Besides, everyone has known that 2018 is an election year and I suspect that the 2018 budget has been honed to reduce a tax increase as much as possible. 

On the other hand, we have no shortage of improvements to, or needed expansion of, services like, but not limited to, social and low-cost housing options, road maintenance issues, water and wastewater concerns, social and arts programs, etc. These all require funding.

It is also important to recognize that our tax base has changed over the years. Our big mining businesses have slowly moved the taxable portions of their operations underground.  As mayor, I will work with council to have the province either allow underground facilities to be taxed or to negotiate royalties in lieu of the lost taxes.  

I do believe some of our seniors deserve tax relief and where possible we would pursue a program that assists seniors with property tax deferrals. Lastly, promising to keep tax increases below the rate of inflation is hoodwinking the tax payer. I believe we get what we pay for.

Jeff Huska

There is a taxation problem in Greater Sudbury and depending whom you ask, you will hear different reasons why. Most of the residents I’m hearing from have realized that amalgamation hasn’t produced the overall savings of merging services that was promised. 

Most of them realize that with the size of our city, keeping things in order and prioritizing what is important and to whom isn’t easy. But what is upsetting the everyday taxpayer is the services they are receiving for the money they are paying. 

Roads are continually being repaired or replaced and alternative methods of construction aren’t even being contemplated. In some parts of the city you’d think the same road has been worked on every year. Poor or substandard work that constantly needs attention is becoming tiresome by everyone.

We have some grandiose costly projects that for some reason council feels need to happen now. We need planning in place that will let seniors afford to stay in their homes longer and isn’t going to drain everyone’s bank accounts to pay for everything through taxes. All people want is quality products and services for the money they are paying.

Ron Leclair

I do believe that Sudbury has a taxation problem, since we as taxpayers have seen taxes go up quicker than any other major city without extended services or growth per capita. I honestly believe it is a PR problem at Tom Davies Square, from the excessive salaries that are being paid out. When elected as “The Peoples Mayor” I will certainly investigate this matter.

Dan Melanson

Sudbury has a spending problem not a taxing problem. We have let our spending get out of control, and as a result we have program duplication, programs that are no long relevant that continue to receive funding. Our current policy of top down budgeting results in continuous budget increases in excess of inflation. We should be moving to a zero-based budget process that identifies redundant and unnecessary spending and would work better to keep tax increases at the rate of inflation.

Patricia Mills

Greater Sudbury’s taxes have been increasing above the rate of inflation on a consistent basis. The tax increases are compounded on the previous year’s increases and in the past four years, equal 10.5 per cent in total. If this continues, the tax burden will have significant consequences for those on fixed incomes whose income does not increase at the same rate. 

Given the fact that in the next 10 to 20 years, seniors will be retiring at an unprecedented rate and our growth is projected to be stagnant, this continual tax burden will make it difficult for many to make ends meet. Taxes need to be kept to the rate of inflation and vigorous efforts need to focus on economic development and growing our residential and industrial tax participation rates. 

I believe in responsible stewardship of tax dollars – so while the line-by-line analysis and questioning of spending priorities may be de rigeur, it is still good management practice. Having said that, cutting smaller slices is not going to solve all of our problems. What we need is a vigorous and focused effort to grow our city. 

Bill Sanders

Most definitely Sudbury has a taxation problem. The taxes are double the rate of inflation. We have to find out why and find a way to bail out this sinking ship.

Visit the election section on Sudbury.com for all your election news.


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