By Jeff Labine

Hiring freeze for city discussed

Mar 14, 2017 | 12:00 PM

One Prince Albert city councillor is pushing for a freeze on any new city hires, at least until the provincial budget comes out.

The issue came up at Monday night’s meeting, March 13, when council went over the city’s general fund. The report showed the city’s financial services were in the black by roughly $23,000 in salaries and benefits for not filling vacant accounting clerk positions.

Acting mayor and Ward 8 Coun. Ted Zurakowski said vacancies are a good way to help get the city’s budget under control.

He mentioned his concerns about the financial implications hiring more staff could have especially when there’s uncertainty around what the province plans to do to reduce the projected $1.2-billion deficit.

“I’m prepared to move forward on a hiring freeze,” Zurakowski said following the meeting. “We’ll see what next week’s budget looks like and we’ll see what administration comes back to us with a plan.”

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At that same meeting on Monday, council approved the hiring of a temporary commercial assessor to help the city catch up on property assessments. This hire was considered an exemption because the new assessor will help bring in future capital for the city.

The other vacancies aren’t new positions but ones that require replacements.

Zurakowski wasn’t clear how long the city should keep the hiring freeze but he was certain nothing should change until after the provincial budget is presented.

Steve Brown, the city’s director of financial services, said the city always prepares for vacancies but there are times when staff turnover and they aren’t able to fill the positions. He added administrators have taken steps to address the issue including bringing down expenses.

He said when the city does bring on staff, the goal is to ensure there’s value to the hire like the new property assessor.

Jeff.labine@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @labinereporter