Where does your
tax dollar go?
Every year Greater Sudbury collects hundreds of millions from property owners. Most residents have never seen a clear breakdown. This is that breakdown — in plain language, with real numbers, every source cited.
$800 million. What is it for?
Greater Sudbury's 2025 approved operating budget is $800.2 million. About 47% comes from your property taxes. The rest comes from provincial and federal grants, user fees, and other revenues. Here is where it goes.
Confirmed figures: Police $89,985,422; Library $10,652,526; Public Health $9,473,714; Conservation Sudbury $1,372,632 — all from the council resolution "Finalization of the 2025 Budget" (Dec 2024). Roads capital $140.1M and Fire capital $52.2M from 2026 budget press release. Total operating budget $800.2M confirmed. Social services, transit, recreation and administration are proportional estimates from the residual after confirmed items. All estimates labelled.
Water and wastewater services cost $101.5 million to operate in 2025. By provincial law, this is funded entirely through user rates — the separate charge on your water bill — not from property taxes. The 2025 user rate also increased 4.8%, adding approximately $6.79/month for the average household. Real cost to residents, but billed separately from the municipal tax levy.
For every dollar you pay in property tax…
Of the $800M total budget, $428 million comes from property taxes. This is how each dollar of your residential property tax is distributed. Confirmed figures use exact council-resolution amounts. Estimated figures are clearly labelled.
The city uses assessed value to calculate your share. $350,000 is the reference point used in all city budget communications.
Tax increases, year by year
Property taxes in Greater Sudbury have increased every year. The 2026 figure was approved December 3, 2025. All percentages confirmed from city budget press releases and CBC News reporting.
From 2022 through 2026, cumulative compounded residential property tax increases total approximately 21.5% over five years. A home paying $4,000 in municipal taxes in 2022 is paying roughly $4,860 in 2026 — before water and wastewater rate increases, which have also risen 4.8% annually and are billed separately.
The major confirmed line items
These figures come directly from city council resolutions, approved budget press releases, and CBC News. Not estimates. Not projections. Exact amounts as approved by council.
600+ facilities. One tax bill.
Inside that $800M operating budget sits an enormous facility portfolio — the largest per-capita indoor recreation footprint of any comparable Ontario city. KPMG identified this in 2020. The city's own documents confirm it. Little has changed.
The city's 5 pools average 50 years of age — past their expected useful life. The minimum annual maintenance investment to hold them in "fair" condition is $866,000 per year. The city currently budgets $62,000 per year for pool maintenance — 7 cents on the dollar of what is needed. The shortfall accumulates as future liability that you will pay for in emergency capital replacement.
Sources: Pool cost $3.2M and maintenance gap ($62K actual vs $866K minimum): CBC News Sudbury / City staff documents 2019. Ski hill gross $671K / net $243K / attendance 19% of capacity: KPMG 2020 Core Services Review. Indoor space comparator 114,000 m² vs 78,000 m²: KPMG 2020 Core Services Review. Library 13 branches and $10,652,526: council resolution Dec 2024 and Greater Sudbury Public Library Board governance documents. Facility counts: City of Greater Sudbury recreational facilities directory.
What the city does not make easy to find
Greater Sudbury's budget documents are available online. But consolidating the actual operating cost of each facility category requires reading multiple reports, cross-referencing council minutes, and in some cases, filing a formal MFIPPA request.
- ✓ Police budget ($89,985,422 — 2025)
- ✓ Library — 13 branches ($10,652,526 — 2025)
- ✓ Public Health Sudbury ($9,473,714 — 2025)
- ✓ Conservation Sudbury ($1,372,632 — 2025)
- ✓ Total operating budget ($800.2M)
- ✓ Capital budget by project
- ✓ Tax increase percentage each year
- ✓ Ski hill gross/net (KPMG 2020)
- ✓ Pool operating cost total (CBC 2019)
- ✗ Arena-by-arena operating cost
- ✗ Community centre cost per facility
- ✗ Parks cost by location
- ✗ Per-visit subsidy for each pool
- ✗ Staff cost broken out by facility
- ✗ Utilization rates by arena
- ✗ Revenue vs. cost by facility
- ✗ Fire department operating budget line
Under Ontario's Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), you have the right to request detailed financial records from the City of Greater Sudbury. A formal request costs $5 and must be responded to within 30 days. Residents and civic organizations have used this process successfully to obtain arena and pool cost data not published in routine budget documents.
Every number, sourced.
Every figure on this page is traceable to a primary document. Click any source link to access the original. Estimated figures include methodology disclosure below the table.
| # | Figure / Data Point | Amount | Source Document & Link | Status |
|---|
The following categories do not have confirmed single-year operating costs published in city budget press releases. Here is how estimates were derived:
- Arenas (~$14M/yr): Estimated from Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative per-pad operating cost ranges ($800K–$1.2M/pad) applied to 14 pads across 11 facilities. No consolidated arena operating figure is published. Requires MFIPPA request for per-facility detail.
- Parks and sports fields (~$4M/yr): Estimated from city parks staffing and maintenance proportions referenced in KPMG 2020 Core Services Review comparator data.
- Community centres (~$2.5M/yr): Estimated from per-square-foot Ontario community centre operating benchmarks. Onaping Falls community-operated model (since 2014) suggests net city cost of approximately $16,000/yr per outsourced facility as a floor.
- Social services, transit operating, fire operating, administration: Estimated proportionally from the $800.2M total after removing all confirmed line items. Not published as standalone figures in city press releases.
- Per-cent allocations of the tax dollar: Derived by applying department proportions to the confirmed $428M residential tax levy. Police confirmed 21.0%; Library confirmed 2.49%; Public Health confirmed 2.21%; Conservation confirmed 0.32%. Remaining categories proportional estimates.
greatersudbury.ca → City Hall → Budget and Finance. All approved budgets since 2019 are archived with press releases.
pub-greatersudbury.escribemeetings.com — All agenda packages including the "Finalization of Budget" report with exact service partner figures.
Available through the city's escribemeetings portal. Search "Core Services Review 2020" in the agenda archive. Contains all facility comparator data.
For data not published publicly, file at greatersudbury.ca → City Hall → Freedom of Information. Cost: $5. Response required within 30 days by law.
Now that you know where the money goes — should you decide how it's delivered?
Understanding the budget is step one. Step two is modelling what changes when we deliver services differently. Use our interactive facility tool to see how strategic partnerships affect the tax burden — in real time.
Open the Facility Model → Contact SudburyCIA