Sudbury council gets budget pointers from public

Sudbury city council received a couple of dozen pieces of advice on how to spend tax dollars this year. Everything from neutering pets to giving free parking to veterans was discussed at Tuesday night's public meeting.

Three different members of the Greater Sudbury Taxpayers Association had a turn at the microphone.

Brent Edwards slammed the city's attempts to trim back its budget this past year.

"Apparently city staff thought you could ask a senior bureaucrat to review his own budget and expect him to come up with a lower number," Edwards said.

"This result left me wondering if we were victims of incompetence or deceit."

Sudbury City councillor and budget chief Terry Kett took exception to those comments.

"It isn't really fair for you to talk about incompetence or deceit by a member of our staff when they're not able to defend themselves," Kett said. "So, I ask, if you're coming here again, not to use those terms."

City council and staff will now review the ideas presented by the public and consider them further when next year's city budget is drawn up in the fall.