Couns. Andy McGrogan and Robert Dumanowski listen to the 2025-26 municipal operating budget presented Tuesday at a committee of the whole meeting at city hall. Dumanowski chaired the meeting, as Mayor Linnsie Clark attended by video-conference.--News Photo Collin Gallant
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Keeping up with increased information requests and questions from the community is straining staff, councillors heard during meetings Tuesday on the proposed 2025-26 operating budget, but technology, not more manpower, may address it over the next two years.
Administrators say they have seen a near five-fold increase in freedom of information requests over three years, as well as more general requests for information on zoning and permit applications.
That is a general trend in all municipalities, said city manager Ann Mitchell, but the local plan to address the spike and process more requests involves changing procedures, file keeping and potential examination of artificial intelligence to route requests.
“A workforce realignment will look at how we deliver externally and internally,” said Mitchell, whose budget authors suggest $2 million in savings could be found by adjusting staff and workload across all city departments.
“Could we do this better with AI? Better software? Are these areas siloed from one another? We’re trying to rectify that but it will take a bit of time.”
Specific to FOIP requests, time spent processing them has risen from 94 hours of staff time in 2021 to 470 hours so far in 2024. That doesn’t include record searches in specific departments.
The city’s overarching policy of offering a two-day acknowledgement for residents and an answer within two weeks is also creating strain, say administrators, especially as more planning department decisions and permits are debated in the community.
“It’s incessant and involves a lot of manpower,” said Mitchell.
Coun. Cassi Hider agreed, calling the increase “astronomical.”
Mayor Linnsie Clark, who has argued openly that her own requests for information have been denied, said FOIP is a legal obligation for the city to navigate, and “a fundamental aspect of democracy” is openness and transparency.
“FOIP is a law that we have to abide by,” she said, arguing that proactive release of information negates the need of the public to request it, or for the city to find and release it.
Clark also said the city has applied unsuccessfully several times to the Alberta Privacy Commission to reject FOIP applications on the basis they were vexatious or frivolous.
“We’re taking budget here,” said Coun. Ramona Robins. “What I’m hearing is that what was one hour in 2021 is now five hours. That’s being absorbed by the same amount of staff, and I have concerns if that is sustainable.”
Analysis is being done, says Mitchell, while proposed spending would centralize file management. Called the advanced collaboration ecosystem, $1.15 million is earmarked over two years.
“We’re trying to make strides, but right now it’s falling on existing staff to handle the increase,” said Aaron Hoimyr.
Last week, budget officials stated they had found 10 vacant or redundant positions to offset 10 new positions proposed to be added over the next two years.
Budget talks
City council heard projections and initial estimates for the city’s 2025-26 municipal operating budget on Tuesday night.
It was the third of four budget-focused committee of the whole meetings schedule before the final draft is presented on Dec. 2 for debate and approval.
Staff are recommending a 5.6 per cent property tax increase this year and next, and the extension of using bare reserve funds to cover a shortfall until 2028 to balance the budget that is affected by inflation and declining operating support from the provincial government.
