The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s latest fiscal year-end total contribution to the City of Greater Sudbury was $1,826,656.
OLG representative Kathleen Devine visited the New Sudbury Public Library on Thursday to announce the 2023/24 fiscal year total. The library benefitted from some of the funding.
The front vestibule area was renovated to become “fully accessible” and address structural issues around erosion, Greater Sudbury Public Library CEO/chief librarian Brian Harding told Sudbury.com following the media event.
This year will see “significant capital projects” undertaken at the library on Lasalle Boulevard, including to its rooftop units and mechanical systems.
“We’ve kept it up to date since that time, but it needs some love,” he said of the building constructed in the ’90s. Washrooms will be upgraded to become more accessible, and the flooring will be replaced, at which time they’ll look at installing accessible shelving similar to this year’s project at the downtown library.
The OLG comes into play via their annual contributions to the city’s capital budget, which projects such as the New Sudbury Public Library renewal draw from.
The $1.8-million contribution is determined by a formula dependent on revenue generated by Gateway Casinos Sudbury. Since 1999, Greater Sudbury has received almost $49.7 million in
How these funds are used “is purely at the discretion of mayor and council each year,” Devine told Sudbury.com in a joint interview with Mayor Paul Lefebvre.
“We do not prescribe where the money is to be spent because it’s yours,” she added, directing her comments to Lefebvre. “You know where it should be and every municipality is different.”
Every year is different, but the OLG funding is always earmarked for infrastructure.
“We know we have an infrastructure gap, so this helps drastically,” Lefebvre said, adding that in recent years they’ve opted to funnel it toward their collection of 13 libraries of varying age and condition.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
