Guest opinion column from Edmonton City Councillor Jon Dziadyk.First and foremost, your taxes should fund core municipal services. Frontline workers are the ones who deliver the services you expect from your city: pothole repair, snow removal, garbage collection, and the like. There is room for other municipal services – such as economic development – but we should master our core responsibilities first and be careful how we grow as an organization. .Edmonton’s City Auditor recently released a report that confirmed some of my suspicions that our middle management is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, since 2017 frontline staff decreased by one per cent while management increased by 22 per cent. This causes me concern. .The Management Audit Report also highlights a much lower ratio of frontline staff to managers than I would expect from a municipal organization. The average ratio for all departments – except City Operations – is one manager for every 3.5 frontline staff. In fact, there are 486 managers who manage only 1-2 frontline workers each. I am not going to prescribe the ideal ratio for the city, recognizing that each department will be different. But, I believe that core services can be delivered effectively without a stack of managers interfering. .A resident who calls to follow-up on a basic permit should not have to go through multiple levels of bureaucrats to get a response. If that resident wants to build something of value, that should be encouraged. Managers managing managers does not typically equate to a faster permit or a faster pothole repair. These examples show inefficiencies. Taxpayers want results, not more process..It is important that we remain competitive to attract talent, but the cost of salaries equates to over 50 per cent of the total City of Edmonton budget. Frontline staff decreases and yet the annual cost of salaries today is $44 million dollars higher than it was three years ago. The budget is becoming unsustainable. When our core services are not being prioritized to the levels that Edmontonians expect – let alone desire – increasing salaries and management is not the response required. I believe that there is room in middle management for realignment given we have seemingly lost sight of what we should prioritize. .I hope that focusing on frontline workers as a priority over middle managers will ensure core services are delivered faster and better. My goal is to ensure your tax dollars go towards the core services first. The nice-to-haves should come second and – quite frankly – we need to re-examine many of our priorities. No longer should it be acceptable to say “we have always done it that way.” .A post-COVID world presents an opportunity for governments to reimagine themselves, and I will push for us to be adaptive. The good news is that reorganization could have a positive impact on our budget. Coincidentally, I will be pushing for a one per cent tax cut for the year 2021, which means we will have to find $17 million in savings. I know we can do that, but Council has to agree on some tough decisions. We can find this money simply by reducing management by 6.4 per cent. This will still leave the city with a higher management ratio than we had in 2017, which suggests that we could go further. .It has been an extremely tough year for Edmontonians. You should not have to see your taxes increase and watch your service levels decrease. You should not have to call my office and wonder why the pothole that you reported twice is still not repaired. You should not have to ask when the overflowing garbage at your park will be emptied. You should not have to ask these questions and receive a higher tax bill at the same time. .This audit is a wakeup call for Council. It is also a very clear outline for how we can reduce your taxes. My hope is that the rest of Council will also wake up..Jon Dziadyk is the Edmonton City Councillor for Ward 3
Guest opinion column from Edmonton City Councillor Jon Dziadyk.First and foremost, your taxes should fund core municipal services. Frontline workers are the ones who deliver the services you expect from your city: pothole repair, snow removal, garbage collection, and the like. There is room for other municipal services – such as economic development – but we should master our core responsibilities first and be careful how we grow as an organization. .Edmonton’s City Auditor recently released a report that confirmed some of my suspicions that our middle management is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, since 2017 frontline staff decreased by one per cent while management increased by 22 per cent. This causes me concern. .The Management Audit Report also highlights a much lower ratio of frontline staff to managers than I would expect from a municipal organization. The average ratio for all departments – except City Operations – is one manager for every 3.5 frontline staff. In fact, there are 486 managers who manage only 1-2 frontline workers each. I am not going to prescribe the ideal ratio for the city, recognizing that each department will be different. But, I believe that core services can be delivered effectively without a stack of managers interfering. .A resident who calls to follow-up on a basic permit should not have to go through multiple levels of bureaucrats to get a response. If that resident wants to build something of value, that should be encouraged. Managers managing managers does not typically equate to a faster permit or a faster pothole repair. These examples show inefficiencies. Taxpayers want results, not more process..It is important that we remain competitive to attract talent, but the cost of salaries equates to over 50 per cent of the total City of Edmonton budget. Frontline staff decreases and yet the annual cost of salaries today is $44 million dollars higher than it was three years ago. The budget is becoming unsustainable. When our core services are not being prioritized to the levels that Edmontonians expect – let alone desire – increasing salaries and management is not the response required. I believe that there is room in middle management for realignment given we have seemingly lost sight of what we should prioritize. .I hope that focusing on frontline workers as a priority over middle managers will ensure core services are delivered faster and better. My goal is to ensure your tax dollars go towards the core services first. The nice-to-haves should come second and – quite frankly – we need to re-examine many of our priorities. No longer should it be acceptable to say “we have always done it that way.” .A post-COVID world presents an opportunity for governments to reimagine themselves, and I will push for us to be adaptive. The good news is that reorganization could have a positive impact on our budget. Coincidentally, I will be pushing for a one per cent tax cut for the year 2021, which means we will have to find $17 million in savings. I know we can do that, but Council has to agree on some tough decisions. We can find this money simply by reducing management by 6.4 per cent. This will still leave the city with a higher management ratio than we had in 2017, which suggests that we could go further. .It has been an extremely tough year for Edmontonians. You should not have to see your taxes increase and watch your service levels decrease. You should not have to call my office and wonder why the pothole that you reported twice is still not repaired. You should not have to ask when the overflowing garbage at your park will be emptied. You should not have to ask these questions and receive a higher tax bill at the same time. .This audit is a wakeup call for Council. It is also a very clear outline for how we can reduce your taxes. My hope is that the rest of Council will also wake up..Jon Dziadyk is the Edmonton City Councillor for Ward 3