The City of Edmonton will lay off dozens of workers as it brings in a budget that will see a zero per cent tax hike for residents..A note by acting city manager Adam Laughlin, to all city staff, said to offer a zero per cent tax hike, $49.9 million would have to be cut from the budget. Part of the cut included the elimination of 300 positions..The total budget is in its $3.21-billion..“We have worked hard to minimize the number of actual layoffs and a substantial proportion of the 300 reductions has been achieved through strategies such as vacancy management and the Workforce Transition Program. Unfortunately, these efforts were not enough to meet the financial targets. We are now beginning to carry out these difficult decisions and that work will continue through 2021. It will impact people and their futures and there will be some employees in every department that will be affected,” said Laughlin..He said a total of 80 staff members will have to go, with 60 positions being eliminated. One-quarter of the jobs being cut are from middle management.. Mossleigh pub briefly opens before authorities move in .“For union positions, employees with seniority will receive a notice of displacement and may choose to ‘bump’ a more junior employee in their Branch, which may cause subsequent bumps. Employee Services will work directly with the affected employees and we may not know the final outcomes for staff until the end of January in some cases,” said Laughlin..“The decisions to reduce services were extremely difficult, but necessary, in the face of the financial challenges the pandemic has dealt to our organization and to Edmonton taxpayers.”.The final budget will still have to be approved by Edmonton city council..“The fact that we were able to reduce middle management positions while maintaining core services shows that there was bloat in the city’s bureaucracy. Reducing our numbers and keeping taxes low is something I am happy council decided upon as it makes for the efficient delivery of municipal services,” said Ward 3 Coun. Jon Dziadyk..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
The City of Edmonton will lay off dozens of workers as it brings in a budget that will see a zero per cent tax hike for residents..A note by acting city manager Adam Laughlin, to all city staff, said to offer a zero per cent tax hike, $49.9 million would have to be cut from the budget. Part of the cut included the elimination of 300 positions..The total budget is in its $3.21-billion..“We have worked hard to minimize the number of actual layoffs and a substantial proportion of the 300 reductions has been achieved through strategies such as vacancy management and the Workforce Transition Program. Unfortunately, these efforts were not enough to meet the financial targets. We are now beginning to carry out these difficult decisions and that work will continue through 2021. It will impact people and their futures and there will be some employees in every department that will be affected,” said Laughlin..He said a total of 80 staff members will have to go, with 60 positions being eliminated. One-quarter of the jobs being cut are from middle management.. Mossleigh pub briefly opens before authorities move in .“For union positions, employees with seniority will receive a notice of displacement and may choose to ‘bump’ a more junior employee in their Branch, which may cause subsequent bumps. Employee Services will work directly with the affected employees and we may not know the final outcomes for staff until the end of January in some cases,” said Laughlin..“The decisions to reduce services were extremely difficult, but necessary, in the face of the financial challenges the pandemic has dealt to our organization and to Edmonton taxpayers.”.The final budget will still have to be approved by Edmonton city council..“The fact that we were able to reduce middle management positions while maintaining core services shows that there was bloat in the city’s bureaucracy. Reducing our numbers and keeping taxes low is something I am happy council decided upon as it makes for the efficient delivery of municipal services,” said Ward 3 Coun. Jon Dziadyk..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
