Sudbury city staff get over 200 ideas on how to cut $6M from budget
"The council and the public will see every suggestion that was made and how it's been...disposed of"
There have been over 200 suggestions so far on how to trim $6 million from the annual cost of running Greater Sudbury, but it'll be months before city council and the public gets a look at the full list.
As of Tuesday night, the running tally is 230 ideas from citizens, employees and councillors on how to make the city cheaper to run and help cover off the money council pulled from reserve funds to freeze taxes this year.
Staff say they're taking an especially close look at 22 of those ideas, valued collectively at about $2.5 million.
Ian Wood, who is normally the director of the economic development corporation but is now heading up the Project 6 Million or P6M team, said the complete list will be released along with the final recommendations in November.
"The council and the public will see every suggestion that was made and how it's been...disposed of," he said.
That could see some of those ideas fished out of the trash before council makes the final decision during the 2016 budget talks early next year.
Ward 5 city councillor Robert Kirwan wanted to make sure staff were clear about their instructions as they go through those ideas.
"Staff has to be reminded that we did make a promise that there would be no loss of jobs or cut in service," he said.
Mayor Brian Bigger wanted assurances that citizens, employees and even elected officials can submit ideas anonymously during this process.
"We received four suggestions today, two of those were anonymous and we're treating each of those exactly the same," said Wood.