Restructuring at the City of Grande Prairie is being chalked up to the fiscal reality facing the city. Staff was suddenly reduced by more than 40 positions Tuesday.
City Manager Horacio Galanti says on top of finding monetary savings of around $2 million in fiduciary savings, city management was also tasked with trying to find efficiencies, as well as positions that could be bundled. Included in the layoffs were the City’s Finance Manager Susan Walker and Parks Planner Lindsay Juniper.
“I would say the main effect of this restructuring affected middle management positions; those were the most significantly impacted, middle and upper management positions,” explains Galanti.
Galanti says a number of circumstances brought city administration to the point of downsizing over the last number of years but argues the city simply isn’t in the financial situation it found itself in during peak oil and gas industry boom times. The layoffs also came a day after city council approved its budget for 2020, in which is had to find $6 million in savings in order to keep to a 1.25 per cent residential property tax increase.
“These things, of course, are never something you [want] to do, but I believe firmly that we need to live within our means,” says Galanti. “The reality today is different compared with 2006 to 2008 years where the city experiences high growth and higher property taxes were generally accepted.”
He adds some property tax bumps during those years were as high as nine per cent, but says fiscal responsibility pushes them to stick closer to inflation based tax raises as part of their current model. Galanti adds the employees affected are being provided with what he calls appropriate transition and support.