Request for extra funding for Place Des Arts in Sudbury put on hold

It was a marathon six hour 2022 budget deliberation session last night at Sudbury city council.

The city is crunching all the numbers for its 2022 budget.

The night ended after a heated debate over whether to provide additional funding to Place Des Arts.

The project is seeking $110,787 in additional operating dollars. There's already $149,000 in the city's base budget for operating dollars for Place Des Arts.

It is a major project nearing completion downtown on Elgin Street at Larch. 

City councillor René Lapierre brought the motion forward.

He says it may be a Francophone project but the building will be for everyone.

"We already have clients from the anglophone side from all over, that are asking about recording studios. They're asking about how they can rent? We have dance studios that are asking, when is it going to be ready so we can book our dance recitals."

Lapierre says the project is part of the downtown master plan and a vibrant part of the community.

Councillor Mark Signoretti says he supports the project but doesn't want to affect the tax levy.

"We have all other ethnic groups, whether it be the Italians, the Greeks, the Croatians, the Finnish, that all have facilities that haven't, a lot of them haven't come to the municipality for money, for operating. And they all had to figure out ways to make ends meet during this difficult time."

He says the city has given a lot to the project and believes it will be successful. He says he thinks with these groups showing interest and paying rent, the money contributed by these groups could offset the $110,000 ask. 

"During this pandemic, going to the taxpayer for more money, I just can't support it at this time. Nothing against the arts."

Mayor Brian Bigger said he was really disappointed in what he was hearing.

"I really do believe that council knew and anticipated that we would be contributing operating dollars for this very real project that is about to open its doors in our downtown, and we were partners in this by making the contributions that we did. They would not have moved forward without." 

He says he realises this is a tough time but asked council to reconsider this project that's opening its doors in June.

After much discussion, this particular business case was put on hold until the next budget deliberation meeting.

There were, however, 15 business cases that were approved last night.

One is $78,000 toward a permanent film officer.

City councillor Geoff McCausland says production companies are choosing to shoot their productions in other northern communities. He says having a designated person to liaise with film industry representatives would help Sudbury.

"The potential for 4.2 to 8.4 million dollars in increased annual local film spent, through the increased filming that a dedicated position could rustle up and support. At the low end that would mean a 53 to 1 return on community investment. If that proves true then this would be a very worthy investment."

The new film officer is expected to help bring an additional three to six productions to Sudbury each year. They will also be required to provide a yearly report on local activities within the film industry.

City council also approved funding to participate in another year of the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot. $96,000 will come from reserve funds to pay for the third year of the project.

Councillor Deb McIntosh says the program helps to bring talent and skilled labour to the Sudbury community.

"The program so far has had great success at helping our community to address local labour market challenges and labour productivity issues."

City staff told council that 80 candidates were approved for the program through 2021, 11 were approved in 2020. The program is also jointly funded by FedNor and the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation.

Municipal budget deliberations will resume on December 15th.