With a dwindling population and a shrinking tax base, Sudbury taxpayers may be placed in a financial pinch in paying for the rising costs of operating the Greater City of Sudbury.
A consultant hired by the city to prepare a long-range financial plan for the municipality predicts user-fee and property tax hikes are inevitable based on the city's dwindling tax base and operating costs.
While Sudbury's population has already shrunk by 10,000 between 1991 and 2001, the consultant's report predicts the city may decline by a further 8,000 over the next decade to 147,000.
Based on current spending and revenue generation, the city faces an annual deficit of $73 million by 2012. To balance the books, total property taxes will have to be bumped to more than $142 million by 2012, about 20 per cent increase of this year's tax levy of $119.6 million.
