New fee, fines collections to boost Sudbury revenues

In an effort to bolster its financial resources, Sudbury will be pulling dollars from the living — and the dead.

New for 2013 will be a fee for dying in Greater Sudbury.

The city is will now charge $27 for a burial permit, which is required for anyone who dies in the city.

Many other cities already charge a fee for processing the burial permit paperwork.

But Daniel Johnston from the Co-operative Funeral Home said he isn't happy about it and said the city is forcing him to pass that extra cost onto grieving families.

"We have no choice but to take this charge and charge it back to the family, because it really has nothing to do with the funeral home or what the funeral home is doing," Johnston said.

Greater Sudbury expects the new burial permit fees to bring in $43,000 in extra revenue this year.

Collecting unpaid fines

And, those unpaid parking tickets in Sudbury will be harder to ignore this new year.

The city plans to start adding unpaid provincial offences fines to property tax bills.

However, there are limits on how much money the city can collect this way.

The city can only go after an individual who owns a piece of property, which means no married couples and no tenants.

But Greater Sudbury city clerk, Caroline Hallsworth, said it’s still worth trying to collect some of the unpaid fines.

"Fines don't go away," she said.

"If they did, people wouldn't pay them. So we have an obligation to collect."

It's not known when the first notices will be sent out.

But Sudbury city staff said it will plan to start with numbered companies that have outstanding fines.