The roster of city employees is set to grow, with formal council agreement to convert 16 contract positions to permanent full-time and potentially add 37 more added through annual budget approval in an effort to address the growing backlog of approved capital projects.
“There is a lack of capital projects getting done,” said Mayor Cam Guthrie ahead of the 12-1 council decision, noting there is no tax increase expected because those roles are already funded through capital budgets. “I think the public wants us to support this to get things done.”
During the past five years, the value of projects the city has funded but not been able to complete has risen from $163 million to $233 million, with more than $300 million in assets considered to be beyond their useful life.
Part of the reason for that, staff explained in putting the recommendation forward, is that contracted project managers are leaving the city for permanent, full-time positions offered elsewhere.
During the past two years, the voluntary turnover rate for contracted project managers is about 20 per cent, which is four times that of full-time employees.
Among the new positions, to be added over a five-year period, will be project managers, designers, inspectors, technicians, administrators, engagement specialists, infrastructure technologists and more.
Though funding is already in place for those roles, the council-approved funding scheme will see a reallocation of one per cent of the annual infrastructure renewal levy used to cover salaries, benefits and the like, which in turn pushes out the timeline for closing the gap between funding approvals and projects completion.
This funding model proved to be the most controversial aspect of the staff recommendation, as Coun. Dan Gibson pointed out the 2016 council motion approving the infrastructure levy through 2026 specifically stated it would not be put toward operating expenses.
“Within four years, we have transformed that into something completely different,” he said before voting against the staff recommendation. “This is why people grow cynical of politics.”
Infrastructure is about more than concrete and steel, responded Coun. Mark MacKinnon, it’s about projects.
“I’ve never been under any illusion it was just about objects,” he said of how the infrastructure levy money is used. “This happens to be salary, but that’s part of infrastructure.”
