Mike Jakubo says city council has built a solid foundation for growth since the election of 2014.
The Ward 7 incumbent is seeking re-election in the 2018 election. The voting period opens Monday, Oct. 15.
Jakubo said that solid foundation is based on taking calculated risks and making good decisions.
“Since 2014, a solid foundation has been built on the strength of fact-based decisions and risk management, not risk aversion,” he said. “A foundation that continues to climb because of better collaboration, and more open and transparent communication and information sharing.”
He highlighted the city’s AA credit rating from Standard & Poors and the recent budgeting award from the Government Finance Officers Association as evidence of the strides he said the city has made.
He also characterized this election as a choice between risk management and risk aversion.
The full text of Jakubo’s release appears below.
Opportunity Awaits!
The hard working people of Ward 7 and Greater Sudbury are seeing through the mud that is being slung daily in Election 2018. They know that mud doesn't stick, it turns to dust and blows away.
In the same manner, a new risk that presents itself can be brought forth to Council and effectively managed. Through this process, risk itself can be mitigated, giving way to opportunity!
What is challenging, however, and what takes leadership, confidence and experience is; accepting political realities, embracing facts and, thereby, managing the challenges and risks that come.
Greater Sudburians are fortunate that we have some very important realities on which to grow an prosper:
- Greater Sudbury is a growing City; population grew by 1,622 residents in the 2016 Census
- Greater Sudbury has the 3rd lowest property taxes of any City in Ontario with over 100K population
- This Council has brought taxpayers in Greater Sudbury the lowest average tax increases over a Council term, since before 2001.
- Greater Sudbury’s unemployment rate has dropped again to 6.4%
Since 2014, a solid foundation has been built on the strength of fact-based decisions and risk management, not risk aversion. A foundation that continues to climb because of better collaboration, and more open and transparent communication and information sharing. That has allowed Council to effectively manage risk in order to envision the full benefit that a series of affordable and strategic investments will continue to have for Ward 7 and our City for years to come. The decisions and investments of the last four years leave our ward and City more attractive to residents and businesses; all the while maintaining strong finances and one of the lowest property tax bills for cities our size in Ontario.
All these realities have been lauded by Standard & Poor's which granted Greater Sudbury a AA Stable rating; and by the Government Finance Officers Association which awarded Greater Sudbury with the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for Budget 2018.
If our City finances and budget were even a fraction as bad as some certain candidates and community members are making them out to be, these independent and well respected agencies would never have heaped praise on our City’s Budget, Council or Finance Staff as they have, particularly in the last year.
In the end, voters have a clear choice between the opportunity of risk management or backward-stepping risk aversion.
And while we may not know the result until October 22nd, one thing we know now is that all residents of Greater Sudbury are in this together!
Mike knows what is possible for Ward 7 and our City and his priorities for the next 4 years can be found at www.mikejakubo.ca.
Learn more about Mike Jakubo by visiting his election page on Sudbury.com.
