Sudbury's controversial ward funds no longer controlled by councillors

Sudbury's contentious ward funds are being taken out of councillors' hands.

Council voted Tuesday to allow staff from leisure services to administer the Healthy Community Initiative funds starting next year.

The $50,000reserves haveoften been slammed as slush funds by critics.

The money is given to each councillor to spend on ward projects every year,but some have refrained from spending it as long as they had control over the funds.

Coun. Deb McIntosh thanked Mayor Brian Bigger for bringing the change forward.

"The residents of Ward 9thank you because they've been waiting patiently to spent some of the Healthy Community Initiative funds, because I promised during the election that I would not touch or sign off on these funds," she said.

Bigger says he wants to see more changes, such as processes that could track ward fund requests.

The application process for the ward funds is not affected by council's decision.