The city is looking for ways to save money through attrition after a budget meeting Tuesday evening.
City council directed administration to provide a report on whether the city can save money on the 2011 budget by eliminating jobs once a city employee retires. Coun. Rebecca Johnson, who moved the motion, said the intent is not to have people lose their jobs but save the city money.
"I’m not expecting anybody to be dismissed from their jobs tomorrow," said Johnson. "We have to seriously seriously look at the number of employees."
The number of municipal positions is expected to increase from 1855 in 2010 to 1883. But those positions also mean city services said Coun. Andrew Foulds. Foulds said he wouldn’t want to see a cut in positions lead to a cut in city services. Foulds said there are other ways to look for spending cuts, not just city personnel.
"I want to see how this impacts people day-to-day," Foulds said. "It can’t just be about saving dollars."
Coun. Iain Angus agreed. He said while the public wants the city to save, it also wants the city to provide services.
"I’ve never bought in to the concept of arbitrary reduction by numbers" Angus said. "We know what happens when we have skimped."
Council passed the resolution during a meeting on the proposed 2011 tax supported operating and capital budget. Council approved a $23,741 amendment for a position at the Lakehead Regional Conservation Authority.
No reductions were proposed. But mayor Keith Hobbs said he still wants to see a zero per cent in the budget, which is currently proposing a 1.29 per cent increase.
"I still want it to come in at zero whether that’s realistic or not that’s my goal," said Hobbs.
Although council has gone through a majority of the tax supported budget, that doesn’t mean there isn’t still time for council to find ways to cut. He said the police department may have too many supervisors which cost the city over $1 million every year.
"Do we need that level of supervision?" Hobbs asked. "That’s just one area."
Although he admits it’s not a good long term solution, Hobbs said the city could possibly dip into reserve funds for this year only to keep the tax rate down to compensate for a proposed 14.3 per cent water rate increase.
"This may be the one time to do that," Hobbs said.
Council will meet Wednesday to discuss the city’s proposed rate supported operating and capital budget.
