Alderman seeks hiring freeze
Reversal noted by colleagues
Council colleagues are bewildered by Ald. Diane ColleyUrquhart’s suggestion the city may need a hiring freeze in the wake of the provincial austerity budget.
While almost every other public institution must freeze or pare back in the wake of the Tory budget, the City of Calgary’s operating budget is largely immune from the ebbs and flows of the province’s fossil-fuel-dependent revenue.
But the Ward 13 representative is worried. In past years, the traditionally hawkish Colley-Urquhart has called for steady hiring in transit, fire and police — but on Monday, she suggested a sharp reversal.
“We need to have administration look at where we can freeze spending,” ColleyUrquhart told the Herald.
“Where can we start tightening our belts in the City of Calgary. This is a very serious situation we’re finding ourselves in, and the city has to do its part.”
The city’s 2013 budget is already set, although council can make in-year adjust- ments. Next year, the city has budgeted the equivalent of 127 more full-time positions, most of them in police and transit, bringing civic staffing to nearly 15,000.
There are cuts to provincial grants, but that money was for infrastructure. And while there may be some extra borrowing costs as a result, other council members doubt that would prompt emergency slashing.
“There will be an impact, but no need for panic yet. We have a lot of numbers to crunch,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi said.
“The operating side? We’re budgeted and accounted for that,” said Ald. Gord Lowe, vice-chairman of the finance committee.
One of the leading pennypinchers on council, Ald. Andre Chabot, chuckled when told another alderman was musing about a hiring freeze in wake of the provincial spending plan.
“It’s kind of hard to attribute anything within their budget as impacting us significantly,” Chabot said.