Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Friday morning.
Council’s cuts to development charges to cost $5.1M to $7.2M
Last week’s city council decision to issue a three-year moratorium on certain development charges and freeze others is projected to cost the city $5.1 million to $7.2 million in lost revenue. This total amount over the three years, which would have otherwise been paid by developers through development charges, leaves a projected gap in future municipal budgets. “The development charges collected are part of a financing plan for the capital projects that are undertaken,” city Financial Planning and Budgeting manager Liisa Lenz told city council during Wednesday’s finance and administration committee meeting. “They are intended to pay for the growth portion of growth-related projects. If we do not receive the funds to pay for the growth portion of the growth-related projects through development charges, we do have to find an additional funding source.” These funding sources could be tax levies and water/wastewater rates, but Lenz clarified the city could also reduce capital investments to offset the net revenue loss.
Vicious dogs to be banned from dog parks/off leash areas
With vicious dog complaints on the rise, the City of Greater Sudbury is updating its approach to how they’re handled, including where vicious dogs are allowed to be. Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent tabled a motion last year requesting a report on vicious dog attacks and how the city handles them, which city animal care and control bylaw co-ordinator Melissa Laalo tabled for this week’s operations committee meeting. “Our practices and deterrents in place are consistent with some other municipalities, but we’ve seen some areas to enhance,” Laalo told the committee. In a series of resolutions approved by the committee, Laalo proposed prohibiting vicious dogs from using dog parks and off-leash areas, which she said is where the majority of bites occur and is common practice for municipalities. Special licences would be required for vicious dogs, whose fees would offset costs for annual inspections and photographing of vicious dogs, and a public education campaign is proposed. Fee changes and a business case for a public education campaign will be included in 2025 budget deliberations.
Laurentian bumps up pace of post-CCAA property sale meetings
Laurentian University administrators say they’re increasing the frequency of meetings with Infrastructure Ontario as they attempt to finalize the sale of university properties so that LU can pay out its creditors. This according to Sylvie Lafontaine, Laurentian’s vice-president, finance and administration, who spoke on the issue at the May 21 meeting of the university’s senate. “I'll reiterate that it is at the forefront of priorities,” Lafontaine said. It has been almost 19 months since Laurentian University exited insolvency under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), with the sale of university properties to the province forming a crucial part of its plan of arrangement. A pool of cash of up to $53.5-million for Laurentian’s creditors is to come from the sale of university real estate to the province of Ontario, which will be rented, in some cases, back to LU.
Success: Robotics teacher lives for ‘lightbulb moments’
It’s not often you get an email from a student, and in particular, a high school student, regarding how great their teacher is for them, and their school. But that happened when Kate Rantala, Grade 12 student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, sent Sudbury.com a message about her teacher, Daniel Monti, using words like “inspiring” and “motivating.” “Since 2012, Mr. Monti has been motivating students, teachers, and mentors to be better in all aspects of their lives,” she wrote. She said that in 2018, Monti took initiative to renovate a decommissioned drama room at Lo-Ellen Park into an EDIT (Engineering, Design and Innovative Technology) Lab and developed a new EDIT curriculum. “Since then, he has developed four FIRST-centric ministry approved courses (FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology), competed in 12 FRC (First Robotics Challenge) seasons, built 23 FTC (First Tech Challenge) robots, organized 3 FTC tournaments and passed 600 students through EDIT classes,” she said in her email.
Final property tax bills are in the mail
Check your mailboxes. The City of Greater Sudbury has issued a notice that final property tax bills are in the mail. The first installation is due June 10, and the second is due July 10. Those who have not received their final tax bill by May 31 should contact 311. Those who receive their property tax bill online can login to their Customer Service Portal account at 311.greatersudbury.ca to access the bill. “If you did not receive an email advising that your bill is ready for viewing, please check your junk mail folder,” the city said in a news release. “If you signed up for online billing after May 14, 2024, you will not receive an online bill for your 2024 final taxes, as paper copies have already been mailed out. Your next property tax bill, which will arrive in February 2025, will be available online.” If you would like to sign up for online property tax billing, you can set up an account and enrol by visiting 311.greatersudbury.ca.
