The city of Greater Sudbury, in its current form, did not yet exist on the election date, but was legislated to come into effect on January 1, 2001.
Virtually all of the municipal councils had only nominal authority over their own affairs throughout the year, as much of their power was transferred to the appointed transition board — consisting of Jim Ashcroft, Ron MacDonald, George Lund, Jim Griffin, Maurice Lamoureux, Gaetan Doucet and Terry Lee — which was overseeing the amalgamation.
[1] For example, Valley East's city council attempted in June to reduce its property taxes due to a budget surplus, but was overruled by the board as the council had lost its authority to adjust taxes during the transition period.
[2] The transition board also had sole authority over issues such as staffing decisions,[3] user fees for municipal services,[4] the possible closure of some public library branches, the structure and status of Greater Sudbury Utilities,[5] and the new city's organizational structure, budget and tax assessment rates for 2001.
By election day, the transition board claimed that it had identified $13.8 million in savings as a result of the amalgamation process.