City of Greater Sudbury considers 3.6 per cent property tax increase
Water and wastewater user rates also anticipated to go up by 7.4 per cent
Sudbury city council is starting to get a sense of what the 2017 budget will look like.
Already, city staff members are projecting a 3.6 per cent property tax hike.
That's in part due to increasing demands from outside boards, like police. The police service is estimating a budget increase of 4.1 per cent.
Some people think that's too high.
Coun. Deb McIntosh wants the police to reassess its figures.
"I would like council to consider that perhaps saying to the police services board that a 4.1 per cent increase is too much and that they should be in line with other boards and other departments in our city," she said.
Other outside boards, like the health unit and the conservation authority, are looking for budget increases of about two per cent.
Mayor Brian Bigger says the city's appetite for increases is closer to one per cent — not four.
"It seems extremely too high," he said.
"I guess this is a message to our members who are on the police board that our internal funding for increases and our appetite for increases is closer to one per cent."
Council has a few more months to mull over the numbers before a budget is finalized.