Mayor mulls staff layoffs
Kelowna hoping to keep all of its 943 full-timers despite pandemic’s toll
Some of the 943 full-time employees of the City of Kelowna could be laid off as the municipality reduces operating costs, Mayor Colin Basran says.
Layoffs are an option as the city looks for ways to cut expenses to prepare for an expected sharp decline in property tax revenue because of COVID-19’s economic fallout.
“I think that there is that likelihood (of layoffs) as this continues,” Basran said on Wednesday. “Is it something we're going to consider? Absolutely it is. But at this time, we haven’t deemed it necessary.
“But I can certainly tell you that, as this moves forward, it’ll be something that’ll be considered heavily, absolutely.”
The city has a total of 943 full-time employees, including unionized staff, management, airport employees and firefighters.
Several weeks into the pandemic’s curtailment of many city programs and services, Basran said the municipality’s focus has been to find “meaningful work” for full-timers whose normal routines have been disrupted.
Other B.C. municipalities have been announcing sizable layoffs of municipal workers, with the City of Burnaby on Wednesday letting go 1,500 employees, two-fifths of its workforce.
Basran noted Kelowna has already furloughed 90 part-timers, term employees and student workers.
“I think we were a bit ahead of curve when you’re looking at, now, other municipalities saying they’re going to lay off staff,” Basran said.
Council has told staff to prepare suggestions for cutbacks aimed at reducing this year’s municipal tax hike, currently set to be 4.1 per cent.
Asked if he could commit to a zero per cent tax increase, or possibly even a reduction in taxes, Basran said upcoming council discussions would revise the tax rate.
“We will wait to see what the city manager recommends, and we will debate that, as we do in the normal budget process, and we’ll go from there,” Basran said.
Mayor James Baker of Lake Country, Mayor Cindy Fortin of Peachland and Mayor Gord Milsom of West Kelowna all said during a video press conference there have been no layoffs of full-time municipal employees in those communities.
“We operate pretty leanly,” Milsom said. “We have, you know, approximately 200 employees. You compare that to the City of Burnaby with 4,000.”
“We’re still providing all the operations and services we have to do,” Baker said. “The whole aspect of layoffs doesn't apply in our situation . . .We don’t have excess people to lay off.”
“Peachland is a small community and we don't have an excess number of employees,” Fortin said, adding however town council is still working on reducing the planned municipal tax hike of nearly five per cent.
The mayors said they would work together to try plan for a regional economic recovery after business restrictions associated with the pandemic are lifted.