At least one Vancouver councillor is holding out hope the city can balance its 2010 budget without having to lay off staff. "Hopefully it will not involve pink slips," Coun. David Cadman told The Province Monday. He is optimistic staff reductions will be reached through a combination of a hiring freeze, not replacing retirees and shuffling employees to fill in gaps. "The normal retirement rate every year is pretty high," said the councillor.Faced with a looming $61-million hole in the budget, council asked city staff in September to find savings that didn't slash services too heavily. That has reduced the gap to $28 million.
Budget proposals being put to council today call for a cull of 158 positions from the city's workforce of 6,700 regular employees and bumping taxes up by two per cent. The city is not allowed to run a deficit. "I want to really look and see where this is really going to bite," he said. "Are we going to have a dirtier city as a consequence? I don't think that's acceptable. "Are we going to have less active community centres or shorter library hours? These are the things that we really need some answers to," said Cadman.
Vision Coun. Raymond Louie said: "The issue is finding an appropriate balance between tax increase and maintaining jobs and services. "What staff have been trying to do for the past several months is to thread that needle . . . and close that $60-million gap we were faced with." The city has held eight neighbourhood budget-consultation sessions and Mayor Gregor Robertson has sat down with business and community leaders, he pointed out. "Close to 1,400 people provided feedback and ideas to the city," he said, adding an online forum and web survey remain open for comments. A further budget report will be put to council and a final public hearing will held before councillors finalize the budget on Dec. 15. - Cadman is expected to put a motion to council today urging the city to look at an innovative program that would recycle residents' unwanted household goods, saving them from going to the landfill. "People would put out materials either at a nominal cost or for free," he said. He is proposing to hold the "freebie" days once or twice a year on a Saturday.
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