Council wages to stay frozen until 2017

“We’ve adopted it to the point that under our formula, that council won’t see a raise if they [the province] get one until January of 2017,” he said.

“Because I do believe, as I said in the State of the City Address, that the next couple of years are going to be tough with the price of oil and there’s going to be cuts to [be] made, so I think we can lead by example. So I think this a great example by the leaders freezing their salaries.”

On Friday, Wall announced the wage freeze, citing the continuing “revenue challenges” his government is facing as a result of falling resource royalty revenues.

“I believe those measures have to start at the top and that’s the intent of this wage freeze,” he said in the statement.

The province is also looking to freeze the salaries of all MLAs. Cabinet members and MLAs generally receive an annual cost of living increase that is connected to the Consumer Price Index – a measure of inflation.

The wage freeze is expected to save the province $15 million.

City joining province to look at belt-tightening

Dionne said the savings for the City won’t be anything like what the provincial government will see, since the freeze only applies to the nine members of council.

“It’s the gesture, that you know, is coming forward, that, ‘hey, we’re prepared to join the rest of the team and do what’s necessary.’

“I even actually looked at a little bit of a cut,” he said, but after looking at the work council will be expected to do, he realized members of council will be doing more work.

However, he forsees the City will need to make “some tough decisions” in the 2016 budget.

When asked what those tough decisions would look like, he raised the possibility of freezing “a few more programs” to keep taxes low.

“So, we’re just trying to stabilize our budget and position ourselves in a place that we don’t have to give a big tax increase in the next couple years,” Dionne said.

This could mean less infrastructure projects may go ahead in the coming years. Dionne noted that last year, the City did $15 million in infrastructure work, this year it is looking at doing $11 million of work and next year that number could fall again. He said it will all be flexible and based on how the economy reacts.

As to why the City started its search for cost savings at the council level, Dionne said it’s because they’re the leaders, and the City can’t ask everyone else to “bite the bullet” if they don’t do it themselves. “So, I’m very pleased that council is on board.”

Dionne is going even further with expenditure cuts at City Hall – he’s reducing the money his own office spends. He didn’t agree with the way the mayor’s office was being run in the past.

During the State of the City Address, he said before he took office, the mayor’s office spent $186,000, and this year his office’s budget is $156,000. He said he is working to lower it even more after the wage freeze announcement.

“The key is, if you set the example, people can’t complain.”

With cuts within the mayor’s office, Dionne is now corresponding directly with residents. He said the people he speaks to like the fact that when they call the mayor, they get to speak directly to him. He said this also allows him to learn more about what’s going on in the city.

“I’m excited about it, and I’m going to continue that practice to try to cut the budget.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

by Thia James

Council wages to stay frozen until 2017

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