Greater Sudbury will be tapping into an $8.15-million provincial fund to pay for a review of its services, city council heard this week.
CAO Ed Archer presented the first report on the core services review at the Sept. 24 meeting. The city is in 58 lines of business, Archer said, which include 150 related or sub services.
Of those 58, only 11 are required under provincial legislation, including taxation, housing, children services, cemeteries, building inspection and fire protection. However, those 11 services consume 58 per cent of the city's $589-million annual budget.
The other 47 are not required, but are traditionally delivered by cities. They include public parks, homeless shelters, libraries, arenas, roads, sewer, animal control and long-term care.
While the review may lead to debates about whether the city should stop delivering certain services, Archer said the goal is not to cut a service, but find ways to deliver them more efficiently and improve the level of service.
“This is not intended to be a cost-cutting exercise,” he said.
Sudbury is eligible for about $300,000 from the fund, which directs municipalities to find four per cent in savings in their budgets, focusing on efficiencies to absorb provincial funding cuts as an alternative to cutting services or raising taxes.
The review will focus on areas with a budget of $500,000 or more because there's larger potential for savings in departments with bigger budgets.
Councillors approved an in-depth review of the money spent on the city's arenas, parks, recreation programming, assets and facilities management, roads operations and maintenance, community grants — including grants provided by economic development and long-term care.
Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer said the first report on the city's services — at almost 200 pages — was a great start.
“We're not looking to reduce services, but reallocate the level of service to improve it without spending more,” said Sizer, who initiated the review last summer.
But Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc wondered whether the city could look at reducing the $7 million it spends on libraries each year, especially since so much information is now available online.
“Could it be reviewed?” Leduc said. “Maybe we could shorten hours or close some of them.”
Archer said it could be added to the list, but like police and the health unit, libraries operate independent of the city, even though they approve their budgets.
“The review is focused on areas council controls,” Archer said, and so could decide on what changes they want to make.
The motion approved easily, with an amendment to have Auditor General Ron Foster work “in concert” with Archer and produce a report to city council at the end of the process.
Initially, the province wanted the reviews completed in November, but Archer said municipalities have told them that's unrealistic, and they are expected to extend the deadline. City council will receive an update each month until the review is complete, sometime in the first four months of 2020.
