It takes considerable determination and time to retrieve or obtain detailed information of any kind regarding the municipal budget, but I spent considerable time just obtaining the data.
The line-by-line document does not tell the whole story.
There are lines “wages & salaries,” but no indication of the number of employees or what they do, and other items are camouflaged in some form of administrative sugar coating.
I did not find any lines referring to preventative maintenance, and it was tough to find anything about the big projects that some “want,” but very few “need.”
I would expect that an open and transparent organization — like the City of Greater Sudbury is supposed to be — would make sure councillors would meet with their constituents for detailed explanations and to answer questions. And also that documents would be made more readily accessible in user friendlier formats. Not everyone has a computer, least of all being a computer genius, too.
There is a very obvious need for that much-promised transparency along with accountability. And there is no time like the present to start.
Lionel Rudd
Sudbury