Greater Sudbury moves toward multi-year budgeting

Greater Sudbury has approved plans for multi-year budgeting, starting with a plan to pass the 2024 and 2025 budgets at the same time.

That would allow councillors to set the tax increase for two years, with the option of updating the 2025 budget depending on financial pressures or other priorities that emerge from council.

“This multi-year approach strengthens alignment with council’s strategic plan and introduces productivity improvements that improve organizational efficiency,” said a staff report on the proposal.

One of the biggest advantages, the report said, is a reduction in staff time required to prepare the budget.

“The 2023 budget process consumed over 10,000 hours of staff time,” the report said.

“It is anticipated that the annual update process may require approximately 70 per cent of that staff time (a reduction of approximately 3,000 hours), resulting in efficiencies for staff in finance and communications and the managerial staff from across the organization.”

Multi-year budgets also help with long-term planning, the report said, rather than the focus on the short term that comes with annual budgets.

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Communities that have already adopted multi-year budgeting include London, Guelph and Chatham-Kent.

The multi-year budgeting motion was approved this week by the city’s finance committee by a vote of 11-1. It still has to be ratified by city council at the May 29 meeting.

Read the full report here.