- Related Calgary City News Blog Questions Addressed Here
- More Transit Related Budget Questions Answered Here
Today, City Administration released its proposed adjustments to the 2011 Business Plans and Budgets.
These proposed adjustments will be considered by City Council when they meet to discuss the 2011 Business Plans and Budgets, currently scheduled to begin November 29 at 9:30 a.m.
The annual adjustments process allows Council to respond to changes in the local economy by modifying the original budget plans to reflect changing needs and to ensure affordability for Calgarians.
“Recognizing Calgary’s economy is continuing to recover from the downturn and that a top priority for Calgarians is to live in an affordable city, all City departments were asked to find ways to reduce costs, said Eric Sawyer, The City’s Chief Financial Officer.
“City staff worked very hard to find ways to achieve the cost reductions and show that we are listening to Calgarians’ needs for delivery of City services at affordable property tax rates,” he added.
The proposed 2011 adjustments to business plans and budgets will result in:
- A 2011 budget that is in line with the previously-approved 6.7% property tax rate increase for 2011. This would result in an increase in property tax of approximately $6.60 per month for the median assessed household.
- No increase in the business tax rate for the 18th consecutive year.
The recommendations proposed for Council consideration are not solely focused on cost reductions; the proposal also preserves growth in the 2011 plans and budgets for a number of priority programs and services, including:
- $8.2 million for 65 new additional sworn officers in the Calgary Police Service.
- $2 million for the Calgary Public Library.
- $2.2 million for Public Safety Communications (9-1-1).
- $3.7 million for The Calgary Fire Department which will be used for the Saddle Ridge, Sage Hill and Emergency Operations Centre.
At the same time, the proposed adjustments accommodate increases to the 2011 operating budget to accommodate urgent or emerging needs such as:
- $10 million provision for improved snow and ice control.
- $1 million for one-time operating shortfalls for the Talisman Centre.
- $1.3 million for sustainment of Tangible Capital Assets to meet Public Sector Accounting Board requirements.
- $1 million funding to achieve the full staff complement for the Sage Hill Fire Station.
To address the projected shortfall of $47.4 million, the proposed 2011 adjustments also include select service reductions and other mitigation measures to help reduce the financial impact on citizens including:
- A $3.7 million reduction for the Calgary Fire Department which will be achieved through a combination of administrative efficiencies and a reduction in shift capacity to accommodate training.
- A $3.3 million reduction for Parks reflecting better asset reporting, fleet right-sizing and reduced seasonal maintenance work.
- A reduction of $1.4 million for Calgary Transit for cleaning staff.
- An additional reduction of $465,000 for Calgary Transit for parking lot maintenance
- The elimination of the Access Calgary Extra program.
- A reduction of $950,000 for Community & Neighbourhood Services.
- The elimination of the Surplus School Sites Program in the Office of Land Servicing & Housing.
- A reduction of $234,000 for Assessment expenditures.
- A reduction of $786,000 for IT to sustain internal/external websites
- A Reduction of $1.25 million in the previously approved Civic Partners budget increase.
Administration has also provided Council with an additional $35 million of potential options to reduce the 2011 business plans and budgets.
City Council will meet to review and debate these proposed 2011 adjustments beginning on November 29 at 9:30 a.m. following a non-statutory public hearing in Council Chambers.
Calgarians are invited to attend these discussions and those who wish to make a verbal or written submission to Council are invited to do so at a public hearing in Council Chambers on November 29.
Posts
cut some management positions at golf course operations ( Maxbell Arena ) and put golf courses back under the full control of Parks and Rec . Management positions made for personal interests and connections and not for what is desperately required . That would cut more monies wasted from golf course operations with their over lapping duties . Or better yet sell off one or more of the golf courses .
ReplyDeleteThis is beyond ridiculous. City administration has seduced council and it seems the public to frame the challenge as closing a $47.4 million shortfall. That's just to get to a 6.7% INCREASE in property taxes. The real challenge is reinventing the administrative and operating functions of the city. The city should target a 5% DECREASE in property taxes and make fundamental changes to the services provided to Calgarians and how those services are delivered. It doesn't take much research to find best practices deployed by cities around the world with characteristics similar to Calgary.
ReplyDeleteI saw that you are considering cutting back on transit hours.
ReplyDeleteI use public transit as my main mode of transport. I don't find today's transit is able to offer good service with the hours they offer now, much less if the City cuts back any further.
I find it very difficult to wait for 1/2 hour to one hour in the cold or pouring rain to make transfers. Also, it is a gruelling lifestyle if you wait that length of time to go to one place. A person riding transit can only do one errand or task in a day.
C-trains are only part of the transit picture. Bus service needs to be included in the plan with more hours, not less. The C-train itself rarely meets my transit needs.
I hope to see a day when all busses run on the same schedule as the C-trains that the busses go to. That should be our vision for a world class transit service that we can be proud of.
Please don't cut back on transit hours. Find cost saving measures in City Hall administration instead.
Rental properties (ie: houses) should be taxed (and licnesed) as businesses - owners are able to write off improvements, property taxes and claim rental income - if rental property owners were taxed/licensed as businesses (which they in fact are) it would bring in $$$ to the City. Also, the owners would be more apt to maintain their properties and this would cut down on "slum" lords....
ReplyDeleteYou can't promise same/better service to the citizens, if you have less people/equipment to provide them. In reality an increase of $7 a mth property tax is worth it if we continue to get the same value for our buck. Ummm, 2 less specialty coffees or drinks a month - not a bad exchange.
cut the expense allowances to all city staff, parking, travel, pensions, etc etc. They can pay this out of their own pocket and claim a portion back when they do their taxes just like every other citizen.
ReplyDeleteThis will save millions!!!
I disagree with the property tax increase. Calgary is one of the highest taxed cities. Look at city hall's inside spending before raising property taxes.
ReplyDeleteCut out alot of top brass that are just putting in time before retiring and pulling in big wages. Just alone stop, all bonuses which is costing millions a year. Are they not getting paid for just doing their job. Just look at the fire department,it so top heavy. Retire these people and it would say millions a year.
ReplyDeleteI am sure we can find the efficiencies in our departments to save 2 - 3 % of the annual expenditures. Just stop installing expensive computer equipment, defer or pare down non essential departments (ie: Envirnomental Specialists hired to look at the global warming issues .... certainly more efficiently done outside city admin). Revisit the 35 hr work week. Probably can't / wont happen because the entitlement mentality of city admin and their stonewalling work to rule mentality will wear down the enthusiasum of those who wnat to change the city.
ReplyDeleteAfter taking Transit in the last few snowy days, it is very obvious to me that this is an area that CANNOT be cut. We need more service, not less. We need more train cars, especially at busy times, and more buses going to those trains. Waiting to get on to a bus or the train only to have 2 or 3 pass you by because they are too full to take more passengers is poor service. If we want to encourage citizens to use Transit, because it's better for the environment or for whatever reason, we need to make it so they WANT to take Transit. It's not fair to those who HAVE to take Transit to deal with the shortfalls of other areas. I encourage a wholesale cut to spending on meetings (inlcuding food & drink, meeting room rental costs - we have a ton of meeting rooms in City-owned buildings), hosting, etc. I think that the City is in enough infrastructure debt that we absolutely CANNOT afford to cut maintenance anywhere. If we expect the buildings to survive, we need to put the money into them. With respect to employees, there's already enough issues with retention that cutting pensions would only drive them even further away. The public sector allows travel costs, parking costs and expense costs WAY beyond what the City does. Public employees don't get bonuses (that's right NO ONE gets a bonus) or any of the other perks that private enployees do, which can be a deterrent when making a decision to work (or continue to work) for the City. Not really sure how the Mayor and Councils' expenditures get rated in Group 2 - it seems to me this should be in Group 1.
ReplyDeleteMy property in BC, assessed value within $10k of my Calgary property's, is taxed at DOUBLE the Calgary amount.
ReplyDeleteGet rid of the concrete mafia! Those crews who swoop into neighbourhoods and change near perfect or passable curbs in new or recently new areas of the city
ReplyDeleteIf there were exact change machines at the C-train stops we wouldn't need the transit police who check for tickets and hand out outrageous tickets for the crime of having no change. Get the people downtown to pay for their ride on the train. I have to pay full price for a short trip as well as a long one. Don't cut, become more efficient, that doesn't mean more Management.
ReplyDeleteCut jobs at the top(Bureaucrats) where the person has no clear portfolio or if they could not make that kind of money outside of the public service sector.
Don't build any more Peace bridges if you want to keep the peace.
Please post a list of the cuts to partners (Calgary Science Centre, Zoo, Heritage Park etc). Currently, only a total of cuts for this department is displayed. I do not understand why this is not being disclosed.
ReplyDeleteDo not cut Fire Department services. Where is my EMS discount on city taxes now that I am paying for EMS with my provincial tax?
I would like to know how Automated Garbage handling only reduces FTE by 12.0 FTE? To my knowledge, there are two guys currently on every garbage truck which can be reduced to 1 with automation. Surely we have more than 12 garbage trucks in the city?
Cutting transit budget does not make sense. Cutting Access Calgary budget is a travesty! I believe traffic improvement was a key part of Mayor Nenshi's platform, more cars on the road and reduced Calgary transit ridership surely can't be a help to this?
Thank you for posting the information and starting this dialogue. No I hope you will listen to us.
Let's start with eliminating all proposed Management bonuses. We pay these people way over what they would get in the private sector. You can fool the people some of the time but the smoke screen soon disipates and the real facts will come out. Being in the Management sector in private business I and many others are not fooled.
ReplyDeleteWe have twice the middle management in the city Bureaucracy as does the private sector. A lot of money could be saved by elimating this deadwood.
City Administrators have used the old scare the folks with cutting areas dear to everyone. It the worst form of intimidation I know of. They throw a baited line out to take everyones focus off the real problem
Lets get real council and call their bluff.
Cut the Library funding - the internet has rendered them less valuable.
ReplyDeleteCut the Police budget.
Raise Business taxes.
Salary reviews for ALL employees.
Halt all raises.
No free parking for employees.
It's looks like administration has proposed to cut many services that the underpriveledged and middle class of the city use, (currently the largest contributors to the municipality's pocket). How about making Developers pay for the infrastructer they require to develope new communities, which the city currently pays for which increases the property value of empty land tenfold, of which all of that increase goes into developers pockets, (who all probably live in Springbank and don't pay a cent towards city services).
ReplyDeleteDevelopers should also be responsible for clearing all snow on side streets in new areas, (they make a greater profit by putting as few access points as they can into new communities creating terrible bottlenecks in suburbia). Traffic at the outskirts of the city is worse than in the inner city thanks to the geniuses who designed the newer communities.
As well stop spending money putting up concrete barriers in affluent communities to stop vehicles entering them, creating even worse traffic problems, and spending money to close off lanes of traffic for no reason (i.e. where Mcknight Blvd. turns into John Laurie and all the barriers on 4th street NW and also 20th Avenue NW, not to mention the travesty that is now Kensington). Trafffic calming only works where it is NEEDED, not just where it is wanted.
Cutting transit shows administration has no connection with real people in calgary. Calgary has one of the worst Transit systems in the country. I work with people in the beltline, and many of them take a cab to work because transit is either unreliable, unavailable or takes way too long).
If Nenshi is truly about change he is first going to have to change the mind set of long term council members as well as administration. I could go on forever about how they could cut money from the top of the city instead of the bottem and affect far fewer people, but that is the current councils job. Try to think for yourselves this time.
How about putting the firefighters to doing some useful city jobs. Let's face it, any job that consists of having "2 barbeque shifts, and 2 sleepover shifts and then 4 days off" could be performing some other functions within the community. EMS responds to medical emergency calls and there is no reason why the fire department has to come along as well just to justify their usefulness.
ReplyDeleteI live in McKenzie Towne and work downtown. Between 6 am & 7 am - there are 6 express bus's going downtown; at night there is 4 leaving downtown (Bus Route #117). However, only 1 bus ever shows up.
ReplyDeleteI have spent amost 5 hours per day taking the city's transit system - part of that is weather related. However, part of that isn't. When the weather is warm and sunny - my bus (which is supposed to show up at 4:15) for three weeks in a row, showed up closer to 5:00 pm; and the load was so heavy - we had to stand for another hour.
What is the city going to do about the routes and bus systems to the south east? It is obvious the LRT will be another 10-20 years; I'll probably be dead from working at 10 hour day and spending 4 hours a day getting to and from work on top of that.
Transit is a priority - City pats itself on the back for its Green initiatives but does not put its fine words into action - if you're going to talk the talk you'd better walk the walk ('cause transit certainly won't get you there!) I would go even further to say that City management should not receive free parking - perhaps if they had to use our dismal Transit system, something would get done.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that administration is considering cutting services for thousands of Calgary's elderly and people with limited mobility. The ACE (access calgary extra) is a very beneficial program for people who need to attend last minute appointments, are not sure of their pickup time or are unable to conveniently use the access calgary program. Most of these individuals are low income and cannot afford to pay for taxi's and are unable to use public transit. The program is limited to $50.00 per month which if you have appointment any distance away from home doesn't last long as it is and could be improved upon.
ReplyDeleteThese cuts are just a band-aids and miss the point - the fundamental problem for Calgary is out of control urban sprawl. Developers can build pretty much anywhere, and the city is obligated to run services there. Until this is changed we are going to suffer huge tax hikes. My proposal: impose a meaningful levy on new developments, something like $30,000 per new house at the outskirts, to fully compensate the city for the extra infrastructure costs. This will keep the “free market” going, as those who wish to live out there will still be able to, but they will finally pay the TRUE cost to the city and not be subsidized any longer.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, zoning could be tightened and no new communities started at the outskirts until empty land, run-down neighbourhoods, and empty parking lots closer to downtown are redeveloped and turned into housing. A condo building built on top of an empty parking lot downtown can create maybe 100 residences and over 100 new parking stalls, and does not need new roads or transit lines built to connect it to downtown. The perverse economic incentives in Calgary mean that sprawl-inducing houses at the outskirts, which are causing the budget problems, cost less per square foot than housing closer to downtown. I did not move to the suburbs because I like spending 3 hours of my day in traffic – I did it because it was better value for money given the bizarre way Calgary is being developed, but this has to stop.
Start making cuts to management in the parks department before you cut seasonal positions. Seasonal staff are the people who get the work done, not the foreman! Some parks depots have three or four foreman/supervisors, several of whom drive around all day and do very little hands on work. It seems the only alderman who gets this is Dianne Colley-Urquhart. The mayor needs to look at the amount of managers there are in parks and cut, cut, cut. Also, why does each city golf course require a foreman to work at the golf course in the winter? Perhaps this waste of taxpayer money should be looked into as well. I think 1 or 2 foreman could handle checking up on the city golf courses in the winter.
ReplyDeleteSome cost-saving/money-making suggestions
ReplyDelete- cancel the second bridge
- add police "enforcement revenue" (speeding tickets) to city coffers just like the Parking Authority
- adopt snow removal measures like adding plows on garbage trucks
- reinstate the fired auditor instead of training someone new
This is the time to reel in your own expenses first. You are paid to do a job well. Why pay you a bonus for doing just that?
ReplyDeleteThere is no need for a 24 hour manned 311 service.
Cut expense budgets. Pay for your own parking, lunches, gym memberships, etc.
No more travel junkets and Peace Bridges.
You want people to use transit so why make cuts there?
We need transit, police and fire SERVICES. Within their own respective departments there are mangement cuts that can be made. Middle and top.
Eliminate the redundent management positions. Don't make new positions with more pay for those that can't do their jobs current any longer. So sad, too bad. Get rid them.
I have no problem with the minimal tax increase that will equal an average of $79 per household. We can handle this. Like most people, I urge the mayor and council to be fiscally responsible. Find ways of making more revenue and not selling off property for lower than the market value as in the Eau Claire property. I don't like the proposed cuts to Calgary Transit and Community and Neighbourhood Services. The other ones sound reasonable. Calgary Transit is a necessary service and you heard it from Calgarians during the election. I try to use transit as much as possibly and it's still difficult to truly get around with it. Promote the benefits of an infrastructure rich city with a reasonable property tax structure.
ReplyDelete* No one wanted the overpriced Peace Bridge so charge a surcharge to cross it until its paid for. There are nearby bridges already so a loonie to cross for a photo op is not much. It should at least pay for someone's job and if its as desired as we were lead to believe should turn a profit
ReplyDelete* Make the developers pay more for new areas infrastructure even if the house prices there go up because the growth is already out of control and the city cannot keep up. It does not sound fair but either does it seem right that existing communities and life long residents have to pay for this
* Have accross the board cutbacks by department (excluding Police/Fire/EMS) to balance the budget then let departments be more creative in raising money outside of the tax base.
* Make the business community help by increasing the business taxes and stop worrying about loss of business.There should be a bulit in increase every budget however small rather than knee jerk ones
* Increase the bylaw fines and enforce them more especially in rural neighborhoods, especially the vehicles that never move all winter, and the people who do not shouvel their walks
* Calgary has a lot of school zones and playground zones and its share of unexplained injuries. This should be patrolled a lot more and fines given out.I have live in Calgary all my life and never seen or know of anyone that has received a ticket. There are blitz's I think for the start of the school year then its over
* Give citizens the option to take the tax increase or not depending on wether or not they are willing to do some community volunteering that reduces costs.Especially with parks and planters it would be an easy one for those with green thumbs and interest
* Flatten out the management levels and allow the workers more input to optimize their jobs.
* Have a reward system for ideas from city workers that can make their jobs and others more efficient. It would have long term effects
S* top sending Alderpeople on useless junkits to other places and use the internet and social media more to communicate with other jusidictions
* Allow citizens the ability to earmark where their taxes go i.e. Police Fire Roads and if there are areas where no one wants to send their money then you have a pretty good idea what to cut back. Even if to start we could be part of 10% of where our taxes went we could be more engaged in the process
* Most people have no idea what the budget entails and even if you go to this site its very generic. To really get to the details and have transparency why not show the line by line costs by department then you would really get to the waste and hidden costs
* Have Neighborhood representatives that are willing to organize volunteers to help with Snow removal, Parks and rec, and administrative services. The Alderman could help with this as well
* Go to vehicle lanes for full cars only to encourage more transit. Let bus pass users get preferred seating and credits towards reduced passes in the future
* Have all sorts of community jobs that citizens can get credits for that could be turned in later for simple things like free parking pass, or transit ride
* Cut donations to charites by 50% and encourage citizens to take up the slack. If they dont want to then once again it tells you which ones are deserving from a community point of view.It sounds cold and ruthless but charities should not come to expect City support unless its what the citizens "all" want such that any extra should come from the charity efforts not the cities
* Community centres should be more self sufficient and creative in paying for the costs of operation
After reading the well thought out comments above, I sincerely hope council will be taking all of these into consideration. If this is really a council dedicated to change, then they certainly should be. My two cents - don't make any cuts in transit.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is totally unfair to strap the new council with the 2011 Budget, at least the new alderman. Let's get on with the job of making changes, asking the right questions,change the budget system to zero based budgeting. Lets move forward with a $100 average tax increase, remove the recycling monthly charge until you can establish a fair system for every tax payer rather than have all the money come from residential homes. Calgary is billions of dollars in debt and we need to focus on our long term debt. I also believe City of Calgary is top heavy in Managers and Supervisors/.
ReplyDeleteStart immediately and focus on 2012 reduction in taxes.
No free parking for city employees. Parking downtown is a privilege not a right. We all pay for it, so should city hall.
ReplyDelete5% Wage Reduction across the board – the public sector did it during the past few years – it is time that the City Employees do
Salary reviews for ALL employees
No BONSUS’S – PERIOD. You get paid for a job – if you don’t do it, you get fired. Doing a good job gets you a paycheck not a bonus.
Cut down the # of Road workers it takes to lean on a shovel. They don’t help their image and stereotype when you see 9 guys standing around to fill in 1 hole, and then 2 weeks later the hole is back because they did a bad job. How many city works trucks are there ?? Fleet and fuel costs can be reduced with 4 guys per truck rather then 1 supervisor in his own 1ton truck, and 1 worker in his own truck.
Charge developers for new community infrastructure. Major $’s to found here. This is a no brainer.
Stop paying overages on contracts. If a contract is awarded at $X million, then the contractor needs to deliver it for that price. There is no need to renegotiate and increase because the contractor can’t fulfill the project on their tendered bid. A bid is all inclusive, not a foot in the door to get the job, then ask for more $ part way thru.
Cancel the 2nd Bridge – we’ve already got one in construction that is a waste of time and money. It Doesn’t GO ANYWHERE !!
Cut down City Employee’s travel trips. Having an alderman go on trips across the country and around the world is unnecessary. Video conferencing is a modern facility, and is readily available. Discussions with foreign nation colleges can be done with phone calls, and emails. A round table dinner with $$$ food and drink is NOT req’d to do business.
Given that I live in the far south west of the city, the $25 million for the Peace Bridge, should be deducted from everyone's taxes who live in the NE, SE and SW. If not, then I suggest that council takes a wage decrease to help offset such a ridiculous tax increase.
ReplyDeleteThis and the past council, must feel that they are the Bank of Canada or treasury and money can be printed whenever they wish.
Also, city council should consider hiring the following firm to address the ENMAX governance issues.
http://www.browngovernance.com/
All levels of government must understand that we do not have a never ending ability to pay more tax.I want a 0% tax increase and I'm prepared to live with whatever cuts are neccessary to make this happen. 6.7% or anything near that is ridiculous.Make this happen,that's what the people of this city demand.
ReplyDeleteThe city is top and middle heavy - plain and simple. The various departments still come back with painful `cut costs in the trenches` mentality. It is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThe City of Calgary needs to look at the basics. Start from zero. Ask the question - what do we need? Need, not want. If we don't need it for the bare bones running of a city - privatize the operation. City-owned golf courses would be first on my list to let go. The vast majority of in-house communications staff would be next to let go. Contract out all such PR work. Finally - we don't need a city-run daycare. The rule should be...if the private sector can do it - let the operations of that department go private.
ReplyDeleteDon't cut essential services; and don't raise taxes. How about some honest leadership: cut redundant positions within the bureaucracy. Start with City Hall and show the tax payers how responsible government should behave. We want effective and efficient governance; not a continuance of self-interested politicians protecting their take-home and expanding their influence by continually increasing the size and reach of government.
ReplyDeleteMr. Mayor… you wanted comments and feedback on how to get this budget and the property tax increase back in line and reduced.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are reading each and every one of these comments and not just providing us with lip service. Here are my comments:
Police Service, Fire Department and EMS – these are ESSENTIAL areas and cannot be reduced. If anything, they require more manpower.
We have new communities and this includes communities that are under 15 years old that if a police officer, fire department or EMS were called – we may as well save our breath as it’s over 25-45 minutes before they get here and that for an emergency.
Transit – we are a city of over a million people and our transit is outdated and not able to support us.
You want us to leave our cars at home and take the transit… WHY when there is not enough room, too expensive, too long waiting for a bus that was to be here in 3 minutes but it’s actually closer to 30 minutes.
WHY – when over 80% of our population have to take transit for their only means of transportation and from work and they can’t get there without taking 2+ hours.
Transit for this city should be running 24 hours / 7 days a week and a minimum of every 10 minutes (holidays – yes you can stretch this every 30 minutes)
Transit for those who work late nights or early morning – sorry but we don’t like you so we can’t provide!!
Snow Removal Costs – why do you not do what Montreal does? They charge every resident – including the businesses - $300 in September. This covers all snow removal from side streets from September to March.
I would pay this if I could be assured that my road was cleaned in a proper manner and on a regular basis.
Bonuses / Over staffed City Hall - cut back on the waste of staff that are just sitting around on their butts doing nothing and can’t answer a question. NO RAISES, NO BONUSES FOR ANYONE … including Alderman, Managers, and Mayor.
Sub Committees – STOP with all the “sub=committee” reviews… this is costing money. Tell me why it takes $250,000 or more to review one request. Just make the decision and get rid of this complete waste.
Business Tax - you say that there has been NO increase in this in several years…. Why not. Businesses can afford it but the every day common folk cannot. I am busting my butt to keep a roof over my head.
Tax Reductions for Alderman / Mayor – NO MORE….. you can pay what I pay.
Freebies for City Hall Staff / Alderman / Mayor – NO MORE … you can pay what I pay.
Peace bridge - This was the most ridiculous spending of money. Bring it back into line and get it completed under budget by 50%. Bet the guys can’t do that – bring in a woman she will get it done!
I deal with clients every day on their books and how to stay on budget and your staff and departments including the alderman have NO idea how to do this. Their attitude is let’s spend money but cut out the small people.
So Mr Mayor – does this answer your questions as to what we can to see.
Get rid of the 2nd Bridge. WHAT A COLASSAL WASTE OF OUR MONEY. No cuts to transit and access,or essential services, but you can stop the bonuses and some of those upper management people. Also as others have said let the developers of new communities pay their fair share.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the blue bins are a money grab of residential owners, how about a way that everyone pays their fair share.
As to property taxes, if you look at a lot of the suggestions here, you may find that the increase is not necessary.
Try those first to get the deficit down before increasing our taxes further.
On the enmax bill, which is city owned,why we are paying a water basic service charge, and a sewer basic water charge AS WELL AS water and sewer charge?. Amounts to an extra $22 per month, then on top of it increase my property tax along with that blue bin charge. Enough already, stop the bonuses for people doing their jobs. I don't get bonuses for doing my job, as increases are not keeping up with your expenses. Get serious council people and work for the PEOPLE, its not YOUR money.
ReplyDeleteThe City needs to look at salary levels and total compensation packages of all employees. Eliminate bonuses unless the employee has proposed and implemented some measures for reducing the cost of running their departments or positions. The private sector has had to suffer wage freezes and elimination of many expenses for entertainment, travel, etc. It is time all city employees salaries were brought in line with the private sector. Cutting out some middle and upper management level positions at the city makes more sense than reducing the budget for police and fire. These are services that are needed by all Calgarians. In these tough economic times, it is incumbant on council to eliminate all non-essention spending. The Peace Bridge, the second pedestrian bridge and other frivulous projects should be put on the back burners until the economy is fully covered, if they are needed at all.
ReplyDeleteDo the citizens of Calgary own Enmax? If so, why are the profits made by Enmax not repaid to the city in closer proportion to the actual profit made by OUR company. We have heard the Enmax has learned their lessen and will do better. What does that mean? Will we see actual pay reductions and more control on spending within Enmax so the the company owned by the citizens of Calgary can actually have the benefit of the profits to spend on actually running this city?
The budget as set up needs to be reviewed. It is difficult to follow, there are far too general categories and too many hidden items to really be able to understand where our money is actually being spent. A more transparent financial statement and budget outline needs to be developed so it actually makes sense.
I am not one for continuous cuts. Somewhere(when) you gotta pay. Especially in maintenance. Let’s not forget the Duer years. The budgets were slashed for 12 years. We are still paying (now premium rates) for the catch-up.
ReplyDeleteI definitely disagree with “Reduced Calgary Transit parking lot maintenance of $465 thousand”. Let’s not cut maintenance.
Surely we shouldn’t cut the budget on the backs of the Challenged. “Elimination of the Access Calgary Extra program” is just wrong.
I support additional cuts in Group 1 and 2 to minimize the property tax hikes this year.
ReplyDeleteFor 2011, I would like Mayor Nenshi and Council to actually reduce property taxes.
As for further cost cutting, I respectfully propose that City Staff not get a raise until our property taxes are lowered. We have had non-stop property tax increases over the years - if the city was a private business, it would have gone belly up by now.
Mayor Nenshi has asked city departments to be proactive in trimming budgets. Excellent first step. Now sack anyone who pulls the old "Well, we could cut essential services" dodge. It's a lame scare-tactic that displays a thug's mentality and no creativity whatsoever. Us grunts are neither scared or fooled by it anymore. Council members that have bought into this bureaucratic piece of manipulative PR wisdom --- get help.
ReplyDeletePaper-pushers: surely we can accomplish just as little with a third less "non-emergency" people on the payroll.
Snow removal: let people dig out their own neighborhoods or hire a private operator. You may get sued for unintentional property damage whether city or private operators are used. Or you may get sued because an ambulance couldn't get down a side street to save someone's life. Which lawsuit will make you look less like a bunch of goofs?
Bylaws: Yo. Neighbours. How about we get off one anothers' cases for niggling little pet peeves? Let's give Bylaw Bruce a break for a change, eh?
I would be happy to see an increase in my property taxes if it meant two things:
ReplyDelete-More and better snow removal resulting in safer roads and an improved quality of life for City residents. Having to spend 3 hours of my day commuting does not make this city a good place to live
-The Swim for Life swimming lessons at city recreation centres is TERRIBLE. I hope the city will move to the Red Cross Swim program. Currently it is not offered at city facilities.
• I believe that you should raise the business tax only for high volume/profits business. Small businesses have enough of their own economic problems and debts. They cannot afford extra taxes.
ReplyDelete• The raise in income tax should be according to one's income; for example, someone with an monthly income of $2000 or less, should be given a complete tax break (no income tax). For more than $2000 per month, 0.15% ($3 per month) taxes increase is quite fair.
For $3000 income per month, the raise should be about 0.20% ($6 per month)
For $4000 income per month, increase the taxes by 0.22% ($8 per month)
For $5000 income per month, by 0.25% ($12.50 per month)
$6000 - $9000 per month income, raise could be around 0.40% to 0.70%
And for $10000 monthly income, the taxes should go up by 0.75% ($75. per month)
• For residential property tax increase, I suggest that the city should consider about the owners’ income, and base the taxes according to the value of their home.
• People with more than one house, in comparison to a low income family that hardly can afford their mortgage and bills, should pay a greater percentage of taxes.
• My last suggestion is to the cancel the airport tunnel project; instead close and flatten the part of Barlow Trail from McKnight to the airport intersection, giving more land to the airport. Then, construct a normal road, around the airport’s property, from McKnight Blvd. to the existing 36 Street NE, going around the southbound part of the airport, coming down (west) to the rest of the Barlow at the cross-light (near the existing gas station) .If you are interested to save millions $$$, I will be glad to draw or send a picture of this easy, functional and low cost project.
Expenses that can be eliminated:
ReplyDelete1. Mayor and council salary and benefits, frozen for this term. Show true leadership, Mr. Nenshi!
2. Cut salaries of top civil servants, not services to the taxpayers!
3. Terminate the use of "consultants", saving us the expense of those select few who profit from shadow employment.
4. Terminate paid leave/ suspension of civil servants. Why should taxpayers foot the bill for criminal behavior that is before the courts? Surely their lucrative income can pay for legal expenses that are secretly hidden from public records.
Making any cuts to Access Calgary is a horrible decision. Access Calgary is a invaluable service, and is the wrong place to make cuts!
ReplyDeleteI do have some suggestions on cuts...
We do not need any more police then we already have. I watched 2 cop cars (4 police) pull 1 guy over for speeding... Need I say more? As we all know Calgary has one of the highest police budgets in the Country.. no need to increase it further.
Second if you want more cuts try Heritage Park... the federal government is already pouring money into it why should the municipal government even give it a dime? I think we can all agree Heritage Park is far from an essential service.
What about Council's perks (cars, parking, expenses, fruit). Why not just a base salary like the rest of us??
Where are the cuts to Council??
If you want to help the snow removal problem then allow citizens with trucks and their own plows to clear their own roads that would help. We have become so focused on rules and regulations that we can't even help each other out anymore.
The library is awesome, but can survive without an increase this year, this is not the year to expand. When the economy is thriving then give the library more money, but not this year.
Most importantly do not give anymore money to snow removal until we have looked at other cities that do it better. What are they doing??
What is the best way to do it?? Who has the best snow removal in the world? I can tell you one thing... It is not us and throwing money at it is not going to help.
Thanks for your time
Whilst I understand the need to tighten the belt, in my opinion more attention should be given to what is being taken out of the budget for the Fire Department. We are already living in a city where trucks are running under international staff guidelines and response times are too long. The fact that the city think building halls but not staffing them is a good idea to me smacks of dollar and cents over common sense. A reduction in shift capacity sounds to me like a decision to risk the public safety for dollars, reducing the number of guys painting a building has much less severe consequences then not having enough Fire Fighters to search a building, or knock down a fire before it spreads causing more damage, more costs and a greater risk to the public. Essential services are that, essential and worth every penny when everyone of us needs them. At some point we will all need their help, I only hope that they are able to come in time, prepared and backed with enough resources. Streamlining their administration, well of course, do that for everyone and see the total savings that come from it.
ReplyDeleteOh, and please don't build anymore bridges until you have fixed the bridges with the public. Calgary has lost faith with city hall, they no longer trust them to act ethically and prudently and this is an opportunity for them to show they care, cut bonuses, cut luxuries. At my place of employment we had to cut to the point of supplying our own stationary to survive the recession, why can the city justify thousands on parking stalls and catered meetings? Get skype and get things done.
Don't cut transit, encourage city workers to take transit, then save the money on parking. They will see first hand how it operates and where money can be saved and where it needs to be spent.
Sure budgets suck, but really I think the issue is getting out of hand. Personally, I can afford the $6.00 a month, I know it hurts some, and hurts those that are the weakest the most, but the reality is services cost money. Lets get them functioning now and focus on future restructuring.
Calgary has a low tax rate compared to most other Canadian cities and so we do have room to raise the rate. The problem is that we need to know what we are getting for the increase. I see the increase going toward snow removal, police officers, Calgary Library, fire and public safety - which I do support and increase in this budget for. However I don't think we should bailout the Talisman Centre as it operates at arms length and must be sustainable. I also believe we need to be a model of efficiency for Canadian cities and be relentless at reducing expenses on council and management of city government. Cities need to remember that they are not corporate and not entitled to the same perks. They are administrators of the public dollars which are hard earned and already taxed by two levels of government before they are passed onto the municipalities. Also - no increase in business taxes in 18 years? Come on - we need to spread the pain and individuals can not continue to take the load off of businesses. What difference would a 1% tax hike to businesses make to this budget?
ReplyDeleteRather disappointed in the proposed cuts to Access Calgary and transit hours. I also hope that the proposed position cuts from community services are not in programs that have been proven to reduce crime and give youth at risk a chance to be productive citizens. Some of the money for all those new police should at least be spread around for some prevention programs. Lastly, we are not one of highest taxed cities in Canada. Go to Regina or Winnipeg. I am all for paying a modest increase in property taxes to get a city that is world class. I hope the new mayor has the foresight to not get into the typical Alberta lowest tax is better debate. It is hurting our city.
ReplyDeleteI understand the politics of these cuts, but why is The City not communicating to taxpayers that:
ReplyDelete1. property taxes are the only way The City has of raising revenue for services and
2. that it is providing services for a population of over 1.2 million with virtually the same staff complement that served a population of 600,000K? The City is already pretty lean when it comes to staffing when this information is considered.
Public servants don't get free parking. They understand that they won't earn equivalent salaries as could be made in the private sector, but these dedicated men and women are there doing the jobs that keep our lives running smoothly and are doing their best to give us the best bang for our buck. There is a saying that public servants are those running into a burning building while you are running out. This is true.
What Council should be addressing is the dysfunctional and in many cases abusive top leadership in Administration (City Manager, GMs, Directors). The Directors are so dysfunctional that they will no longer meet together on a regular basis. How can they set strategic direction if they won't work with each other? Why isn't this level acknowledging the consistently low employee satisfaction ratings they receive? There is a poisoned work environment across The Corporation. Perhaps The City needs to remember what leadership means, and that you get the best from a highly skilled and educated workforce by treating employees with the respect and professional consideration that we all expect in our workplaces.
In order to save money, take care of the inefficiencies!
ReplyDeleteFor example, yesterday as I walked down Stephen Ave. I saw two Roads trucks idling as two guys were shovelling off benches. Two things wrong with this: 1) idiling vehicles waste money and pollute, 2) why would you make it a priority to shovel off benches when there are intersections that need to be taken care of and other foot paths around the city that need to be shovelled. Waste of time, waste of money.
Another situation I saw back in the Fall. A city worker was blowing leaves on a windy day for at LEAST 2 hours in the same spot because he couldn’t get ahead. Again, waste of time, waste of money.
It is the little things that will save time and money.
Why does this city take an annual census? I have lived in a number of other cities and none of them took an annual census. This a complete waste of taxpayers' money in the collection and summarization each year of the information obtained. A census/enumeration in the spring or summer prior to the city election should be all that is required.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine runs one of the development companies which build our city. He consistently tells me about his public (city development office) counterparts, who work until they are 55, at which time they retire with full pension and benefits. Then the next day get re-hired by the city as a "contractor" with a large raise, all the while collecting their retirement. THIS IS STEALING. Dozens do this in this one department. I'm sure it happens in all city run departments. If this government is serious about ending waste, they will end this practice, and save us millions of dollars.
ReplyDeleteJP is right, our tax rate is low compared to comparable canadian cities. However, our property value per square foot is much higher then those comparable cities; so we pay the same dollar figure for a comparable house. Calgary raises the same amount per square foot of city space, and needs to spend it wisely not increase our taxes...
ReplyDeleteEspecially since most of us took pay cuts in the last two years. Perhaps city workers should take pay cuts and save us the taxes.
We can not keep cutting our departments from serving our citizens. We need to make monetary cuts at upper management and City Council.
ReplyDelete- Stop all grant programs to the arts
ReplyDelete-Stop plowing roads & sidewalks along the parks
-Cut council salaries to normal salaries
-Get rid of the Enmax CEO & Board of Directors for people who can do the same job but for a regular wage
-Restructure all city workers cutting out duplication
-Eliminate all dept.CEOs for supervisors
-Give bonuses for all depts that come well under budget
-Eliminate the 2, 3 & 4 assistants to the aldermen
-Have plows put on all city garbage truck to help with snow plowing like is done in other large cities
-Hire experienced people knot family, friends etc.
Hey folks,
ReplyDeleteFrom the blog team:
Just want to say thanks for all the comments regarding the budget - we are passing them along to their respective departments.
We appreciate the time you've all taken to share your thoughts.
Here are some responses in the meantime.
http://www.calgarycitynews.com/2010/11/2011-budget-adjustment-questions.html
Thanks again!!
There are several ways to reduce spending, besides the many suggestions above.
ReplyDelete* Why do we run full size buses during non-rush hour periods with no more than 6 passengers? forget the lame excuse of the bus drivers and union when they cry about full size bus drivers don't want to drive the smaller buses because they are paid a different rate. Train all bus drivers to drive all size buses and pay the same rate. The savings would become obvious.
* Make all arenas, liesure centres, public swimming pools, and golf courses etc. P3 and self sustaining. ie. user pay.
* The City should not bail out facilities such as the Talisman centre, let them raise the fees; again user pay, why should seniors and non-users pay to subsidise the users.
* Make developers responsible to provide roads, schools, and services when building outside of serviced areas.
I am concerned about the proposed cuts to Community and Neighbourhood Services and the work they do to support communities and to reduce poverty. Without the valuable work The City does, how will Council know what the social and economic situation is on the streets, and in our low income neighborhoods? Don't we have a duty as citizens to, yes keep our financial house in order, but also protect those folks at risk who don't have a voice or the basic needs to survive in our city? I simply don't understand how you can have economic development without social development being taken into consideration. What will happen to the poor in our city and to the organizations that use the information The City generates to determine community needs from year to year? How will Council know what is happening on the ground? I know Mr. Nenshi that you care about the folks who live on the streets and in the shelters and I know that you care about your staff and the work that you and Council will collectively pioneer. I have confidence that you will make a difference at City Hall. I also understand the budgetary mess that you were handed and live in reality knowing that you and Council cannot work miracles. You can only do the best that you can. So do just that - the best that you can!
ReplyDeleteYou want us to be more environmentally friendly, yet you decrease transit funding so there will be less hours allocated to bus schedule times as well as a decrease to the transit cleaning staff "resulting in lower levels of cleanliness"?? If that's the case, I would much rather take my car.
ReplyDelete"Roads increase revenue of $1M for service and maintenance of Calgary Police Service traffic saftey cameras". I think this $1M would be better used towards transit and/or snow removal.
ReplyDeleteBudget cuts always start at the top and work their way down.
ReplyDeleteSo starting at the top...
all upper management (including aldermen, mayor) to take a 10% decrease in pay.
- no bonuses, commissions to paid out
All trips - to be cancelled
No more freebies for City Hall staff, alderman, mayor
- this includes tax reductions, parking, free trips, discounts on transit, etc.
Snow removal --
- all households, businesses to pay a flat fee commencing October 1st until end of March to cover the side-street snow removal and sanding.
- this flat fee to be no less than $75 per month to a maximum of $350 for the entire period.
This would generate a significant income.
transit --
- reduction to office staff and management
- NO reduction to bus staff/maintenance
City Hall staff -
- reduction of staff / management
- especially those that are redudant positions, staff that is just filling time and a seat with no purpose
NO sub-committee work. Waste of cash
If you work at this you can reduce the budget without impacting the seniors, the disabled, the residents that have no other option but public transit, etc.
A lot of people have made a lot of good points in the comments above. I appreciate the opportunity to have a forum to speak my mind.
ReplyDeleteOne specific problem that has only been brought up once in the above comments is how top heavy the fire department is. This is true. As was stated in a Calgary Sun article a few weeks back our city is operating with more than double the number of chiefs as other larger cities in Canada. A deputy chief remarked that Calgary has very few supervisors and only a small portion of fire department personnel are indeed supervisors compared with other departments across the city.
Well, if anyone can play a game of smoke and mirrors it is Calgary’s top heavy fire department administration. The fire department is based on a seniority system. At the very top of this “chain of command” is the management exempt Chiefs which include the fire chief and his 16 deputies and assistant deputies. These are the only people recognised as supervisors by the city.
The fact of the matter is every fire engine in the city (over 40 now) has a captain on board. He is the supervisor of the other three firefighters on the truck. Above him is a one of 5 on-duty district chiefs that looks after a quadrant, or the downtown. These district chiefs are also not recognized as supervisors. On shift at all times is one battalion chief who is above the district chiefs. He is not recognized by the city as a supervisor despite having over 250 firefighters under him at any one time. Want more? Secondary apparatus such as aerials and rescue trucks have a lieutenant onboard who is in charge of that truck and at least on other firefighter. Of course, he is not recognized as a supervisor by the city either.
So, in simple terms, the city could probably eliminate several deputy chief and assistant deputy chief positions as we already have many supervisory positions within the rank and file of the Calgary Fire Department. That would eliminate several millions in salaries, benefits, office administrator salaries and two-year-old Nissan Muranos which they drive home and use for personal use as well as for fire department business.
I hope this is clear.
Police should do some crime fighting and establish a sound community identity so they know where to go when a crime occurs- its not hard to figure out who the bad apples are. They get way too much money for the results they produce. Cut their budget.
ReplyDeleteOur emergency response is crazy. Sending police, ambulance, and fire to car accidents is a bit of over kill. All I ever see firemen do is sweep up a spot of oil on Deerfoot. Most often this creates such a traffic jam that the environmental impact is for worse than leaving the oil on the road. Lets use our resources more effectively. Less firemen is a real possibility as most of the time they dine.
ReplyDeleteLess management in city departments would be a good thing as they would not spend most of their time protecting their turf and their budget. Now they forget about the people they are serving often fighting over which budget and who should do the job. As a result it never gets done properly. Cut city management and get departments working together.
ReplyDeleteAre expense accounts really necessary- Fruit, Dry cleaning,Car allowances, etc. If not necessary get rid of them and live like the average guy.
ReplyDeleteSnow removal. Do we have any kind of plan? No more money until we use our head. I now see some residential streets being cleared when it isn't necessary. Why?
ReplyDeleteCity Hall staff needs to be reduced significantly ... Many do very litte work , especially in senior management. Privatize many city services ...snow removal . street cleaning ..
ReplyDeleteReduce Police department positions and salaries . 35 % make over $ 100,000 in a city with no crime, complete waste of money, having cops standing around doing nothing but showing off their cowboy hats . . Reduce number of fire halls.... They are BBQ shops for firefighters...
Getting to a fire 10 minutes later make's no difference.. Despite what the fire department tells you . Get rid of the useless 911 call centre . Privatize.. And we all know what needs to be done at Enmax..
Barry B
ReplyDeleteSell Enmax now. We could get enough cash to pay off most of the city debt, provide for immediate funfing problems, and establish a rainy day fund for the future. Why are only taking a 25 million dollar dividend each year, We own Enmax and they can afford a substantialy larger annual payment Better this than giving it to over the hill rock stars and parties.
We need to work on reducing city employees, the bonuses and the pay increases over the cost of inflation. This is our biggest cost and where we could make the biggest savings if senior management would get serious about it.
No more unrequired bridges or sidewalks being torn up and relaid when nothing was wrong with them.
Cut plans to fence off-leash parks.
ReplyDeleteCut plans to create 15 new off leash parks.
Cut plans to educate the public about picking up dog poop in off leash parks - the public already knows and does this.
Cut plans to add interpreters to parks.
Cut staff that spend more than 20% of their time at meetings - teach them how to communicate via email.
Cut the number of foremen in Parks.
Provide a safe environment for employees to report incompetent supervisors - those that give inconsistent, contradicatory feedback to employees (supervisors that don't know what they're doing).
Ensure that employee tasks are consistent with job descriptions and fire any supervisor that demands that employees proof read their work and perform other non-job related duties
Terminate all studies, committees, and free lunch meetings that focus on "how email takes up server space".
Cancel all public programs that have low participation, and which are not financially self-sustaining
Close public facilities that are not self-sustaing during winter months.
Stop paying crazy amounts of money to have everyone's personality tested according to Red Blue Yellow Green. The testing is nothing more than psycho-babble, yet managers that are unable to assess work performance use this tool to assess employees.
Perhaps one of the most effective methods to sale money is rid ourselves of Business Tax. It may be surprising to most Calgarians that were are one of only a handful of muncipalities in Canada that still has a Business Tax. The reason so few have it is that the cost to assess properties for a different tax far outweighs the benefit. It is must more cost effective to roll the business tax rate into the non-residential tax rate. As a result the city requires less employees (or at the very least can more effectively use them) both to collect the taxes and issue the assessments. Not to mention as a consequence there are less assessment appeals, less paper used to print assessments and tax notices. For a progressive municipality seeking to reduce costs this is a method with a lot of upside and little risk to either the city of the taxpayer.
ReplyDeleteSome quick ideas:
ReplyDelete1. Get rid of the pet of the week segment, the city should do city stuff.
2. Get rid of all transit police, all they do it check tickets and serious problems are for real police anyway.
3. Get rid of all city libraries, close all of them except leave one large library downtown. It's the 21st century, we have the internet now. Build an e-library if you must.
4. Start buying cheaper furniture and buildings. That cherry hardwood table in the video looks pretty expensive.
5. Cut wages for all city employees to reasonable market levels. I went to University for 6 years to get into aerospace and now I learn Calgary bus drivers make more money than I do.
6. Since Calgary owns Enmax force them to pay us the profit they earn instead of hosting parties.
7. Don't expand road transit, Calgary transit already sucks bad, and our roads suck bad, so adding more busses is only going to provide a marginal improvement at this point.
8. Why does it cost $391k for the City's website to use social media? YouTube is free, twitter is free, blogging is free. Cut this spending, fire most of your idiot IT people, and hire a few competent people who know the internet and technology, that should be enough.
9. Stop buying expensive photo radar cameras and installing them at intersections. Eliminate photo radar and minor infraction traffic enforcement performed by police, thereby freeing police resources for real crime, and negating the need to hire and train new officers.
I could go on, and maybe I will later, but that's a start.
Jonathan
I believe the parking fee at the LRT stations deter LRT users. If you add up the parking cost with the transit pass costs, plus added time and less convenience, it is cheaper to pay for parking downtown.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen any suggestions on decreasing the size of administration and increasing effeciencies. With the huge decision making mud bog and cover your butt mentality, the less people (and better trained) in place would allow for more and better decision making. There are some fantastic people at the City, but are caught in the mud with everyone else seeming to try to confuse and complicate everything so nobody is accountable for anything. Get rid of the mud, reduce the cost, eliminate the circles of non decisions.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to me that the City is in the real estate business!!! I am in the real estate business and have been shocked by what I have seen happen. They are the scariest competitor in the business. They have investment funds that don't follow the market, they are a player in a very competitive open market yet they control the approval permit process!!!!!!, there is no real owner controlling decision making, no ownership (the public) reporting or accountability, the staff are not experienced or knowledgable in private real estate development. If I made the type of decisions the City made, I would have been broke a long time ago. We only have to look at past deals to see how they mess up the market for individual and corporations trying to play on a level playing field. It would be interesting to see what would happen if the City divested themselves in the real estate business, eliminated public overhead, empower private business to compete properly.
ReplyDeleteI have been told the City would lose revenue if they shut down this business. I would like to see the track record and business plan to see how it helps the residents and business in the City. I know why if have not seen this, because it doesn't exist.
DO NOT cut SE LRT. Buses are not going to work, the past week alone has proven that. Honestly I will personally pay triple the property tax increase just to finally clear some of these projects off.
ReplyDeleteYou could cut 2 or 3 Million from the Fire Dept Budget, with no reduction in Fire Service whatsoever, by trimming Chief Burrell's "personal staff" of 25 Deputy Chiefs, back to "3" where it was 5 years ago ?
ReplyDeleteEdmonton still "4", so why has Calgary Inflated those ranks to 25 ?
All with shiney SUV's on the City Nickel to boot !
What a Crock !
Supervisors - $85,ooo plus per year - Water Services. Enough said!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMaintain the transit budget. Improve transit, don't reduce it.
ReplyDeleteThe city benefits economically and environmentally when more people use transit, and fewer travel in their own vehicles.
Most of the cars I see on the road have one or two people in them. If more of those solo drivers took transit for trips that don't require a vehicle, that would certainly ease the traffic conditions for drivers, as well.
Indeed, I think some consideration should be given to reducing the cost of bus passes, to encourage people to use transit more frequently.
A year or so ago, Prof. Naheed Nenshi wrote a column for the Herald about the problems that Swinton's Art Supply store had with by-law enforcement.
ReplyDeleteSwinton's had put reproductions of famous works of art in its windows. That was considered a violation of some by-law that limits how much of a business window can be covered with ads or art or whatever.
The idea behind the by-law was apparently to protect the populace from windows with too much on them.
I don't believe I need that protection. Moreover, we don't get such protection during Stampede Week, when this rule apparently is ignored.
I suggest that the city review the scope of its by-laws and hence of by-law enforcement.
What by-laws really serve no purpose in Calgary now--or at least serve such little purpose that it isn't worth trying to enforce them?
By-laws usually get adopted because there is some issue at the time that city council feels must be resolved. But as times change, those rules may no longer be sensible, much less worth spending time and money to enforce.
Worry about by-law infractions related to safety and other essential considerations. Either put matters like art work in business windows on the back burner--the one way way way in the back--or get rid of the by-law altogether. Snow removal is a matter of safety. Long grass in back yards is a matter of sightliness, which should be a very low priority.
Cut the budgets of all Alderman and the Mayor. I can't afford to travel - why should they. And quit raising the price of the Adult Bus Pass only to reduce service levels. Nenshi claims to want to get more people onto transit, but this isn't the way to do it. Those of us who have no choice because we rely on transit are the ones who support the system. Maybe in addition to cutting Aldermanic and Mayoral budgets, we could also have them all take transit instead of having heated parking for free? I'd like to see Mr. Mar, who feels that transit is a bargain, stand outside with me this afternoon and tomorrow morning when the temperature reaches at least -33. See how you'd enjoy an even further reduced level of service after you lose the feeling in your extremities.
ReplyDeleteI truly appreciate that our mayor wants input from Calgarians. Thank-you Mr. Nenshi for thinking outside the box! Now, let us all consider reality.A tax increase of 6.7% is $6.60 per month for the median household in Calgary. This is $79.20 per year. This amounts to buying one or two less coffees a month. I have been poor in the past and understand that mere dollars can and do make a difference. But even when I lived below the poverty line, I could find an extra $6.60 per month. Increase our taxes but spend the money wisely. Health, education, transit, libraries, snow removal - these cost money and if we want them we must pay for them. I vote for a 6.7% tax increase.
ReplyDeleteTransit Fares: Why is the yearly transit pass for seniors(over 65) only $35.00 year? This works out to under $3.00 a month to use Calgary Transit. If you are a low income senior, it is only $15 a year. However, if you are an adult taxpayer, like myself we pay $85.00/month or $1020 a year. Now, I understand that many, but not all seniors are on fixed incomes. However, this subsidy is ridiculous! My niece, who is wheelchair bound does not get a subsidy for a transit pass. She could sorely use it as I have seen her try to navigate on icy sidewalks, she gets stuck often! A disabled person like my niece has to pay $85.00/month, the same amount for her pass as any other adult, while seniors pay $35 a year?! Please Calgary Transit, raise the yearly transit pass rate for seniors to at least $90.00 year($7.50/month) and $60.00(5.00 month) for low, low income seniors. These rates are still more than reasonable!! Please stop raising the monthly transit adult pass rate! We also have to pay the $3.00 a day at transit lots. Not to mention many of us are homeowners and city taxpayers that pay your wages Calgary Transit!!!If you keep raising prices you are going to break the taxpayers back. Lots of seniors can afford to pay more than $35 a year for transit. Those that can't, can apply for the reduced fee pass. The extra revenue can go into increased bus service or keeping some cleaning staff for LRT stations. Just do it!!
ReplyDeleteCalgary Transit: If Mayor Nenshi wants to cut the $3.00 a day charge to park at LRT stations, good. However, people who drive in from Okotoks, Cochrane, Airdrie, etc. and fill up our LRT lots should still have to pay a user fee. Somehow, the City of Calgary in conjuction with the Alberta Government are going to have to come up with a way to identify a town or municipality on a license plate so these people can be made to pay a fee. I know that this is done in different states in the U.S.A. to combat this very problem. Surely, with today's technology someone can come up with a way to insert a number or letter on a license plate to signify the address and town of the registered vehicle. It's not rocket science! Drivers from commuter towns use our roads and LRT lots and trains. They don't pay a dime towards the infrastructure, maintenance or daily operations of our LRT system, as they don't pay city of Calgary taxes. Someone at city hall needs to get on this one. The fee charged to people who drive in from out of town, would at least pay for all the pay machines the city of Calgary has installed. It could also help to maintain a decent level of security at the LRT parking lots.
ReplyDeleteSome Suggestions for cutting back at City hall:
ReplyDelete1. Stop the second bridge - not needed or wanted at this time.
2. Look at bonuses within the City and stop them. Not needed. If Gary Holden needs a 2 million dollar bonus, he can move on. I am sure another business leader will be happy with a $700,000 pay cheque.
3. Look at overtime policies. I read in the newspaper that police officers are making 6 figure paycheques. This is due to an officer going to court for 15 minutes and being paid a minimum of 4 hours of OT. This same officer goes to court over and over and accumulates hundreds of Overtime hours. Not a good policy when looking for cuts.
4. Evaluate all city administrations as was done in 2002 - the last City of Calgary Re-Organization. It was found that no one should supervise just one person. This is redundant. Unfortunately it is also common in the City of Calgary today - look at the Fire Dept. We have 17 Deputy Chiefs when Edmonton has 4 Deputy Chiefs. Our City justifies it by saying there are only 17 managers in the 1200 member CFD. The part that is left out of the equation is that there are also more than 200 "others who supervise and manage - Battalion Chiefs, District Chiefs, Captains, Lieutenants, and Senior Firefighters who all have management responsibilities, but they are not considered officially as "managers" and this allows such a top heavy administration to develop. No city in Canada operates their FD in this manner as I found when I checked number of administrators in other large Canadian FD's.
5. Stop the tax breaks for city politicians. We all pay taxes on our income so when we have some of the highest paid aldermen and the highest paid mayor, why do we give them a tax break? Remember Mr. Bronconnier and his cohorts taking a 22% raise just 2.5 years ago. They broke it up into 3 separate raises in one calander year to make it more palatable for us tax payers. The reason they give it to themselves - to quote our previous mayor - "You have to pay to keep good people". It's time to lead by example.
6. Take a close look at some of the costly benefits that city administrators get. Each Deputy in the FD gets his own new vehicle supplied that is used for business and for his own private vehicle. Insurance and fuel are also provided for free. Take a close look.
7. Stop presenting ideas like cutting transit (a necessity if we want to cut pollution, and encourage sensible use of raodways). Also stop suggesting we would have to cut the manpower needed for new firehalls - cut the fat off of the top of the departments. When people call 9-1-1, they don't care how many mangers there are in a department, they just want to know the men and women who do the work and risk their lives will be there in a timely manner, staffed so they can accomplish their tasks quickly.
Mayor Nenshi, I and many of my friends and family members voted for you because you seemed to really understand what most of us could see our previous mayor council doing (private land deals and favorable contractual obligations that didn't seem to benefit anyone but the contractor), but we couldn't do anything to stop it. Now we have you, and I really hope you will represent us and stop the blatant over spending on items we don't need or want and trim the fat cats at the top levels of city departments. Simply compare Calgary to other municipalities and you will quickly see, we have become an inverted triangle with far too many positions at the top along with all of the supporting postions that go along with them. Don't forget for each new administrator, there are likely 3 support staff that we do not need.
Thank you.
I believe that if city council/management were doing their job they could find a way to keep tax at 0% or even a decrease.
ReplyDelete1. Remove all bonuses and freeze salaries
2. Eliminate middle management positions as they are usually just shuffling paper
3. Have new communities pay more for the infrastructure they require.
4. Stop extending the LRT as it promotes growth outward, simply driving continual increases
5. Increase LRT parking, I don't want my tax dollars maintaining lots that Airdrie/Cochrane... would use.
6. We are paying a garbage tax on our Enmax bill, why also on the tax bill.
7. More transparency, fairness, put more of the costs (i.e. transit/...) on a billing format like this. As an inner city property owner, I pay double the average tax, and solely because I didn't buy in the burgs. So this tax $$$ is actually going to be double what the city says to me on the news.
By taking taxes out of our property tax, the school taxes we pay that leave the city would also be lower and money thus would stay with Calgary.
i.e. 2000 city, 1400 school
Take out 100 for transit and put it on Enmax
1900 city , 100 enmax, but only 1330 school
*** Put tax increase on a residential basis, not property value, not only are you gouging me, but the seniors that built this city and live in the inner city ****
Hey, I found another great place to save money! Let's cut the salary of the police chief, who just got a significant raise that out paces inflation:
ReplyDelete"Police chief Rick Hanson's pay climbs to $261,930 a year"
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Police+chief+Rick+Hanson+climbs+year/3869162/story.html
Jonathan
Cost reduction not service reduction should be the priority of this city Council. Suggestions brought forward by City adminstration only deal with the implications of service reduction and not improved efficiencies of the existing operation.
ReplyDeleteThis council has a unique opportunity to distance itself from the past and move on to new and improved efficiencies of city operation and new ideas to improve service to the citizens of Calgary.
Talk to other cities of similar size and geographic location. Learn from what they have done. There is no need to reinvent the wheel on issues such as snow clearing, transportation, homelessness etc.
Transit needs to be rethought from scratch (except the ctrains). Cut off the head (mgmt) and let planners actually earn their living with a new transit plan rather then tweak one route and call it a week's work.
ReplyDeleteIf we give calgarytransit more $ now they'll just add a few more busses to popular routes that don't need them.
Some routes are the same now as 25 years ago even though there are new stations, subdivisions, and train lines! How is that a good use of limited manhours / resources?
Examples:
I see 10 route 3's go by (back to back sometimes) before I see 1 route 20.
Why have a route 502 that goes from heritage station to heritage park and sits empty all day long while people are waiting for hours in the cold? (2 routes already stop kitty corner to heritage park)
Why have routes that meander around the entire city? - should an accident on 78th ave & center st NW affect service south of chinook? (route 20, 73, 3)
Why does the airport bus also go to erinwoods rather than back and forth to a train station? (taxi conspiracy?)
Why not have heated "stations" with parking in the SE and REAL express routes that RUN ALL DAY and go straight to a train station or downtown WITHOUT STOPPING in quarry park for 5 people to get on / off? Have community busses connect at those "stations" rather then multiple busses leaving downtown for the different SE communities.
Why not work more with universities who trying to solve transit problems for free rather then pay thousands of $'s for the same type of output (i.e. http://transit.mtroyal.ca)?
Why not have ctrains running AFTER LAST CALL, so we can prevent drunk driving, and partner with the taxis to be at the stations all down the line?
When 1 bus is so late another catches up, why do they both have to finish the route? Can't there be some coordination in bad weather to make better use of resources?
And finally... NO FREE PARKING FOR ALDERMEN - THEY WORK RIGHT ON THE TRAIN LINE - GIVE THEM BUS PASSES INSTEAD! Suffer with your constituents, and maybe then we can see transit improve.
For 79 dollars a year, keep the increase at 6.7%. We cannot constantly have budget increases below inflation in the this city. I enjoy the services and would like to see them continue not have them wither on the vine.
ReplyDeleteKeep 2011 home property tax to < 4% regardless what the previous council "approved" for 2011 in their 3 yr budget. Circumstances ahve changed.
ReplyDeleteThis <4% is still more than most people will get in raises and is more than inflation is expected to be. Most Calgarians are still belt tighening, so council needs to also tighten on our behalf.
Cut all the stuff in the proposed second tier of cuts that is claimed to sligjhtly affect services.
Russ
- Do not cut transit. A more efficient system would attract more users and ultimately increase revenue.
ReplyDelete- Cut all advertising / communications. It's absurd the amount of money that was spent to "Celebrate the Bow"; do we need a waterworks bill stuffer in ever second ENMAX bill? Or an online ad to remind me to go to Southland Leisure Centre? Or newspaper ads to remind me to be a Snow Angel? Between the staffing costs, the media costs and hard costs for photography the total must exceed $2,000,000 annually. There was not one line item on this entire budget that reduced costs for something as unnecessary as advertising. If there is something important to say, post the information on the city website and issue a press release. Take all the savings and put it towards additional transit buses.
When budget time comes around the first temptation is to cut front line staffing - the ones that keep the City ticking. Maybe the Alderman should re-consider voting themselves raises time and again - and send a message that they reallly care about the citizens.
ReplyDeleteWhy are we investing in a dying trend? Over the past 10 years, library usage has clearly shown signs of decline. Yahoo and Google have placed information retrieval in the palm of our hands. When was the last time you went to the library?
ReplyDeleteI use Calgary Transit as my primary means of getting around the city and I find the service inefficient and unresponsive to necessary changes. You want to cut back on service when the city has increased it's population 50% since I moved here in the early 1980's. It should in fact be increased and the hours that it operates should be lengthened. It is a service funded by the citizens of this city and should not be operated as a money making business. The service is inadaquate as it is. I should think you as counsil members should ride the transit service to city hall rather than drive your private vehicles so you can see the service and experience it for yourselves. Also the cost of using the service is an enormous amount. The city in winter time is a very hard place to walk around. Sidewalks are not cleared and the road plows dump the snow on the sidewalks and bus drivers make you get off the bus and step into a snow drift that is the bus stop. Try it sometime!! I challenge you!!
ReplyDeleteA culture of efficiency and pursuit of cost-saving opportunities needs to be developed within city administration. Currently, the Business Unit leaders and the City Manager appear to be more interested in protecting their power by not reducing the bureaucracy. Their tune needs to change, otherwise the Mayor and Council should find new BU leaders who will work in the city's and the taxpayers best interest.
ReplyDeleteAs an example, the police seems to defend their budget, while they fly their chopper at non-critical times of the day. I've seen it many days both in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon, in what I would call 'cruising' mode. Fully costed, I suspect this chopper costs over two thousand dollars per hour, which could amount to at least a couple of million dollars saved per year if it were deployed when air support was actually necessary.
Mayor and Council;
ReplyDeleteAll areas need to be looked at for value and efficiencies. Often great savings can be achieved by lots of small changes. I do not know all the details but if there are a lot of perks for City employees (like free parking) that should be stopped. Bonuses should be the exception not the rule. Improving transit is very important, don't cut here. Some things like winter and snow are a fact of life in Calgary, citizens need to take responsibility drive slower, learn how to handle your car and quit complaining. Snow removal around bus stops should be done with care. Libraries are still very valuable, that is where many people go to use a computer. The internet does not replace books. The library is also an important community gathering place.
Changes to the way development takes place in Calgary should help reduce costs but this will take a while to have an effect. Find some things that are wasting money and show us how Council changed things for the better then we'll know you are on the right track.
Why are city employee salaries and benefits not on the review/freeze/cut list? The City has to come more in line with the private sector. When belts need to be tightened it is the employees who must make sacrifices, why is the same not true for the city? Why are we continuing to allow city employees their right of entitlement when I have not had a raise in 3 years and have had benefits cut to meet budgetary requirements? I'm not happy about the sacrifices that I have had to make but at least I still have a job and city employees should not be exempt from feeling the economic downturn either.
ReplyDeleteTransit it not the place to make cuts. They system is so user UNfiendly already, making more cuts will put people in their cars more often, or in my case, be the last straw to purchasing a car again. There are several areas within transit that can be adjusted to save money without affecting service: put in turnstiles to make sure everyone is paying for their ride. Involve transit riders in route feedback - I have many ideas and I'm sure thousands of others do as well.
No business tax increase for 18 years???? Why should business be exempt from increases leaving us to pick this up personally?
I hope the thoughts and ideas are really listened to, I voted for change and I am ready to see it!
Transit parking fees? We need both free and paid parking. The McKnight lot is half empty. Make that outer part free. Charge only for the spots closer to the station. This way, everyone wins!
ReplyDeleteFreeze city hall salaries - I haven't seen a raise in two years, in fact my income has dropped by about 20%, yet I am guaranteeing salary increases years in advance for city employees at all levels.
ReplyDeleteDo not tie salaries to pension obligations, match contributions perhaps but make the individual responsible for pension.
Stop collecting my half full blue bin every week. I'm recycling everything I can but can't fill the bin every week. Cut the service by half and it makes sense.
A useless study
ReplyDeleteBy looking at a map of Calgary:
It can easily be seen.
With closure of Barlow:
Trips originating South of 70 th Ave
and East of 19th St. street will have about
two miles ( 3.6 kM) further to go to the airport when they go North up 36 st. to Country Hills Blvd and back South to the airport.
Trips originating North of 70 th. Ave
and West of 19th St. street will have no difference in distance to go to the airport than they do today.
With the installation of a tunnel between 36 st and the airport turnoff at Airport trail the two miles (3.2 kM) referred to above will not be used.
I fail to see where the installation of this tunnel can be justified to save this short distance for the relatively few users. It adds all of five minutes to travel time.
Does this mean political glory overtakes
rationalism??
By a look at the map the city council can save the cost of a $ 250,000 study.
Yours truly.
Steve Kotyk.
123 Varsity Cr. N.W.
T3B 2Z5
The fire department is extremely top heavy and the city could save millions by reducing multiple layers of management in the department without affecting front line services.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that a comment I sent on November 22, 2010 was not published or was lost in cyperspace. With regards to the November 20, 2010 published proposed cuts to reduce the projected 6.7% property tax increase. As usual the proposed cuts are cuts to services, City maintenance and operations, items that the property taxes were met to cover City services. It seems that when Council wants to sell their approach they start by eliminating funds from City services, services that the bulk of Calgarians depend on year after year. A good example is snow removal which penned by a fellow empolyee from eastner Canada the City`s snow removal policy is ``lets wait for a Chinook to remove the snow and ice``. The budget has not been increased for years not enough to accomodate the City`s growth, a service that our tax dollar supports. I am not opposed to yearly tax increases that match know inflation figures. But again council debates cuts when there are projects that have been already been pre-approved in 2011 budget figures part of the previously 3 year plan. I am sure these pre-approved or projects in progress were know about prior to this weeks debate. And I am also sure that previous members of council, the bulk of which have been re-elected will not cut or consider moving into another budget year. Council also knows that user fees, water and waste-water surcharges, garbage colletion, recycle fees are additional hidden property taxes.
ReplyDeleteMayor Nenshi, the bulk of council is the old guard and they will be difficult to convince.
You have suggested that the LRT parking fees be eliminate another user fee forced down the throats of the citzens of Calgary and needed funds to cover those pre-approved 2011 budgets. Almost the same as forcing the Peace bridge down Calgary`s throat, by the way I will be surprised if the City will be able to to keep the cost down to $25 million now that it is behind schedule and must be heated in order to complete the welding.
Maybe council should look at the unreported activities of the Calgary Muncipal Land Corporation (i.e. East and West Village). And why does Corpoate Properties require so much money this coming year.
Here is an obvious cost savings why do LRT cars require AC units and shrouds to along the top of the cars to hide the units.
The previous Mayor stated that accountability was one of his campaign issues that would be dealt with well he did not accomplish that promise. Accountability is one of your items, but to be accountable is to tell the truth but we all know truth does not buy votes.
The LRT parking fees have either got to go or be reduced to a reasonable $1/day. $3/day is just a deterrent for using public transit.
ReplyDeleteGet rid of employees that have retired on Friday and the following week are back at the City as a consultant for huge fees. Eliminate Management Exempt positions for General Managers and Directors such as Executive Assistants and Administrative Coordinators. EA job responsibilities can be assigned to GM Secretaries that do nothing but handle calendars and answering the phone only.
ReplyDeleteAll you ignorant commenters who voted in the last Election. Did you really expect council to make any significant cuts? Not one of these elects have any experience operating an 1.6 billion dollar company. Managers have decades of experience in hiding funds. Suck it up, It is what it is. If the public wages, pensions, medical plans, and perks are so much better than the private sector, dont cry / apply.
ReplyDeleteA manager at transit has recently announced his retirement effective Dec 31. Do not fill this position, instead split his duties amongst other managers in the various departments. This has been done with some other retired management positions and seems to work fine. This would save close to 200,000 a year.
ReplyDeleteMr Nenshi, congratulations on asking for another 2 million from the CPS budget. Don't let them use their scare tactics into believing that we will all be unsafe with this budget cut. One has to look no further to see 3,4,5 officers at their favorite "fishing hole" to realize that we have plenty of front line officers who can be redeployed to other "real" policing sections. CPS has been the spoiled bratt of The City and it's about time it stops.
ReplyDeleteHere are some Transit related Budget questions answered. Thank you.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.calgarycitynews.com/2010/12/transit-budget-questions-answered.html
Not all is well in the state of - - Calgary. While most seniors get a raise (?) of approx. 1% in their OAS incomes, Calgary city employees go on their merry way with annual wage increases considerably higher than inflation.
ReplyDeleteTime for a two year wage freeze (it's been done before), which could bring the property tax increase to something in the neighbourhood of 3%.
If you’re going to cut the $3 park-and-ride fee, then build a parking lot that meets demand. I think most LRT riders would prefer to at least know there is a parking spot available and pay a nominal fee, than to show up early in the morning just to find no more spots available. Then what do they do? They are forced to drive part or all the way to work, or find spots on residential streets; thus defeating the point of the LRT system. The City can’t look at empty lots in one part of the City and make decisions that overfill lots in other parts of the city. It’s simple supply-and-demand economics 101. Even at $3/day, it’s still difficult to find parking spots in many areas. I’m all for considering alternatives, but why do we need to rush to another un-informed decision just to fulfill an election promise in such a short period of time. I’m sure most Calgarians would be pleased if the City took the time to make a decision that makes sense in the long run. There is a reason all the other major centres with established LRT systems (note I’m referring to “established” systems) charge a park-and-ride fee …. It makes sense, generates sustainable revenue, and still provides the rider with an option (1) pay for parking or (2) take the bus from home to the station. Riders don’t have an option if the parking lot is always full.
ReplyDeleteRather than getting ride of the $3 parking fee, the City should have looked at enforcing those that ride transit to actually pay for it. Many people I know do not buy a monthly pass or even pay daily, they ride the train for free stating that the ticket they get once a year (if that) is worth it as it is so much cheaper then paying.
ReplyDeleteAs well, why are city employee salaries and benefits not on the review/freeze? My salary has not increased since the economy crisis yet the city receives their annual raises. This really needs to be looked into.
I agree with the craziness of parking at c-train stations as mentioned earlier. Shawnessey parking is a joke as is trying to get to it from 22x. All of the south is brutal to get out of from McLeod (a huge joke with too many feeder lanes) Deerfoot (15 km each morning) 22x (can you expand it finally ?)
ReplyDeletePlease get a ring road running behind New Brighton/Copperfield so the south is less clogged or get some trains running soon out there....please
Senior on a fixed income? Why is it now the responsibility of others to pay for your lack of planning?
ReplyDeleteThe reason that the McKnight-Westwinds station is half empty is that it is adjacent to a large parking lot whose owners welcome LRT parking.
ReplyDelete