The city expects to see anywhere from 50 to 100 employees accept an early retirement package aimed at cutting labour costs.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
City Hall is seeking between 50 and 100 early retirements from its workforce to cut labour costs, Mayor Ted Clugston revealed Thursday.
That could equate to a near 10 per cent reduction of the municipal staff as the city seeks to cut costs to conserve reserve funds and maintain property tax rates next year.
“Our goal is to have the lowest cost of operations and come back stronger and better than before, but there are tough choices,” said Clugston.
On Thursday, he was part of a Chamber of Commerce online panel discussion about political leadership and government action to grapple with the economic effects of the COVID pandemic.
Last month, the News was first to report that city administrators would “accelerate” a standing budget plan to cut costs and boost revenue.
The city has spent savings to balance its budget since 2014 when natural gas dividends dried up. The amount had been decreasing, but could nearly double to $27 million in 2021, said top finance officials.
On Thursday, Clugston said that city human resources officials are now offering early retirement packages and expect to see up to 100 employees accept.
“We’ve already lost a lot of good people who have done great work for the city,” said Clugston.
HR officials have not stated how many jobs are potentially at risk overall, but that attrition, such as not filling vacancies, and retirements would comprise the first phase of cuts.
The 2019 annual report of the City of Medicine Hat states that permanent established positions totalled 733 in municipal services and another 354 in utilities or business units.
That is a total of 1,087, equalling five fewer than 2018, but 13 more than 2015.
