Hiring freeze or job cuts? It's a county dilemma

Barbara Simpson, SIMCOE REFORMER

Across the country, municipal managers are participating in a bureaucratic version of Snakes and Ladders. But in this take on the childhood staple, the magic number that will help them climb the corporate ladder is the number of employees underneath them. "Their goal is to show they can manage a large bureaucracy and the only way is to have a large bureaucracy," explained Scott Hennig, a spokesperson with the Alberta-based Canadian Taxpayers Federation. With municipal managers striving to climb the civic ladder, they rely on appearing the "most powerful and influential" amongst their colleagues, Hennig added, which often entails securing and instructing a large workforce.

But Norfolk County isn't a pawn in this bureaucratic game -- at least according to the county's human resources department and staff development department. "It's absolutely not happening in Norfolk," assured Kandy Webb, general manager of the department. "In terms of empire-building . . . for instance, our managers aren't paid based on the number of staff that they supervise." Instead, Webb argues, the county is always measuring its efficiency. For example, when the community was restructured, it forced the county to consider 'optimum' staffing figures for each department. "We're always looking at realignment of duties . . . in terms of how we can create the most efficiencies and the most effective workforce." But despite Webb's confidence in staffing efficiency, Port Dover Coun. John Wells proposed a controversial 12-month staffing freeze early in December. The motion would halt the county from hiring employees, with two exceptions to the rule -- that mandated program hiring continues where 100 per cent of the funding comes from elsewhere, and seasonal and temporary hiring also gets the go-ahead. Nevertheless, filling vacancies left due to retirement or a staff member simply finding another job would be a challenge, as they either have to be deemed "essential or critical" by council in order to be filled.

While the decision was deferred at the Dec. 10 council session, the motion could come back during budget deliberations at the end of January. At that time, a senior management team will bring forth "cost-saving strategies" for the county, including some options that could affect staffing. Currently, Norfolk County -- one of the community's largest employers -- has 734 full-time, part-time and casual employees on its payroll. It's a figure whose growth could soon be stifled. "If we can't find sufficient savings and it comes down to push comes to shove, you have two choices," Wells explained. "Your choice is to tack on the extra cost to the ratepayers or to find other savings -- and those other savings may have to be in staff reductions."

"In the real world, that's what's happening -- staff reductions. In the government world, that's not what's happening."

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The only true proponent -- Hennig -- said Wells' proposal sounds an awful lot like zero-based budgeting. That's where every department is scrutinized and all expenditures must be approved -- a process that Hennig believes more municipalities need to take on.