waterloowarrior
Nov 7, 2007, 5:31 AM
Mayor Eyes Staff Cuts, Privatization (http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=1&nid=53286)
Josh Pringle
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Mayor Larry O'Brien's "secret" plan to find 90 million dollars in savings at Ottawa City Hall will be unveiled in a breakfast speech this morning.
CTV News and the Ottawa Sun report the Mayor will propose privatizing city services and cutting city jobs.
O'Brien tells CTV News the City of Ottawa can save 45 million dollars a year by reducing administration costs from 7.3 per cent to 5 per cent.
The Ottawa Sun says the Mayor's plan would cut 300 employees in the first year of the three-year plan.
The City of Ottawa is facing a 98 million dollar budget shortfall this year.
The plan to balance the 2008 City of Ottawa budget would also include privatizing city services.
O'Brien tells CTV News he has spoken to the Mayor of Winnipeg about that city's model of privatizing services to reduce spending.
O'Brien will propose outsourcing a portion of four city departments that have a 228 million dollar annual budget.
The Sun reports O'Brien will also propose the city sell Hydro Ottawa.
O'Brien commissioned a consultant to examine department and city spending to help develop a strategy for finding efficiencies.
The Sun says if Staff and Council adopt the plan, it would save taxpayers more than 70 million dollars a year and there would be no property tax increases.
O'Brien says he has not given up on his quest of a "zero means zero" budget, which would include a tax freeze in 2008.
The Mayor insists he doesn't want to cut city services, just "administrative overhead."
citizen
Mayor to announce privatization plans (http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=498bea78-3360-476c-826a-e1caea9b8c96&k=67651)
Bid to save money could follow Winnipeg's example, mayor explains
By Laura Drake and Jake Rupert,
Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, November 06, 2007
In his long-awaited speech today on the future of Ottawa's finances, Mayor Larry O'Brien will announce his intentions to save money by privatizing city services.
Mr. O'Brien said he has had several conversations with Sam Katz, the mayor of Winnipeg, about initiatives Mr. Katz has taken to privatize services in his city.
"That's a very good model," the mayor said about Winnipeg last night in an interview with CTV Ottawa.
"With some of the direct service deliveries, we can also look at privatization," Mr. O'Brien added.
Carmen Barnett, Mr. Katz's press secretary, said the Winnipeg mayor would not comment about private conversations he had behind closed doors.
However, she did outline some of Mr. Katz's initiatives since being elected, such as privatizing the city's garbage collection and entering into public-private partnerships to build three new city police stations as well as several city bridges.
Ottawa Councillor Alex Cullen, a vocal critic of Mr. O'Brien's, said last night that Winnipeg-style privatization initiatives will do very little to help reduce the 2008 budget.
"The immediate short term effect of this approach is that it's not going to help in terms of the tax impact of 2008. You simply cannot turn the services around fast enough to end up with tax savings for 2008," Mr. Cullen said.
Mr. O'Brien said in the television interview last night that his promised zero-per-cent tax increase for Ottawa is something he does not intend to compromise on.
"Zero means zero, and I think we can do it. It's icy cold in my mind," he said.
"We need to get there, but we need to do it in a smart way. We can't do it just by slashing jobs. We have to find how to do things better."
Winnipeg has had a property tax freeze for 10 years, Ms. Barnett said, adding that the last city budget, which also contained a 20-per-cent reduction in the city's business tax, was passed by council unanimously.
The number of service cuts necessary for a zero-per-cent tax increase in Ottawa makes a unanimous budget unlikely.
However, Mr. O'Brien said last night that he would not address service cuts in his speech today, preferring to leave that to budget deliberations.
Mr. Cullen said it is absurd for the mayor to insist on a zero-per-cent tax increase without detailing which city services will be affected.
"The public doesn't want another fan dance. He has to come clean and show the public what his plans are and have the guts to stick to his principles."
Mr. O'Brien swept to power a year ago on the strength of essentially three campaign promises: to freeze property taxes for four years; to get the city running more like a business; and to do these things without cutting core services.
Last year, council spotted the newly elected mayor 12-months grace on his promises when they passed a 0.3-per-cent property tax increase budget made possible by raiding reserves, blowing the previous year's surplus, and using other one-time funding sources.
This year, councillors aren't willing to do this, and have essentially told Mr. O'Brien it's time to deliver.
It's a tall order, too. For a property tax freeze in 2008, the mayor will need to find $78 million in savings in a $2.2-billion budget, roughly half of which is provincially mandated spending. In 2009 and 2010, it will be even harder as projects and programs deferred in previous years to keep taxes low are scheduled to start.
The mayor's plan, which he's scheduled to release this morning in a speech to the business community, could make, or break, the remainder of this term of office and his political career.
"This is it," College Councillor Rick Chiarelli said yesterday. "This is what he was elected to do. ... His credibility for the rest of the term may hinge on this."
© Ottawa Citizen 2007
Ottawa Sun (http://www.ottawasun.com/News/BreakingNews/2007/11/06/4636294.html)
The bulk of O’Brien’s $70-million savings plan will come from farming out a portion of four city departments: Real Property Asset Management, which is responsible for managing all city office buildings, Lansdowne Park, water treatment facilities, the Byward and Parkdale markets, Pineview Golf Club, Information Technology, Financial Services and Human Resources.
The four branches of municipal government have a $228-million annual budget and 1,780 full-time equivalent employees.
Josh Pringle
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Mayor Larry O'Brien's "secret" plan to find 90 million dollars in savings at Ottawa City Hall will be unveiled in a breakfast speech this morning.
CTV News and the Ottawa Sun report the Mayor will propose privatizing city services and cutting city jobs.
O'Brien tells CTV News the City of Ottawa can save 45 million dollars a year by reducing administration costs from 7.3 per cent to 5 per cent.
The Ottawa Sun says the Mayor's plan would cut 300 employees in the first year of the three-year plan.
The City of Ottawa is facing a 98 million dollar budget shortfall this year.
The plan to balance the 2008 City of Ottawa budget would also include privatizing city services.
O'Brien tells CTV News he has spoken to the Mayor of Winnipeg about that city's model of privatizing services to reduce spending.
O'Brien will propose outsourcing a portion of four city departments that have a 228 million dollar annual budget.
The Sun reports O'Brien will also propose the city sell Hydro Ottawa.
O'Brien commissioned a consultant to examine department and city spending to help develop a strategy for finding efficiencies.
The Sun says if Staff and Council adopt the plan, it would save taxpayers more than 70 million dollars a year and there would be no property tax increases.
O'Brien says he has not given up on his quest of a "zero means zero" budget, which would include a tax freeze in 2008.
The Mayor insists he doesn't want to cut city services, just "administrative overhead."
citizen
Mayor to announce privatization plans (http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=498bea78-3360-476c-826a-e1caea9b8c96&k=67651)
Bid to save money could follow Winnipeg's example, mayor explains
By Laura Drake and Jake Rupert,
Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, November 06, 2007
In his long-awaited speech today on the future of Ottawa's finances, Mayor Larry O'Brien will announce his intentions to save money by privatizing city services.
Mr. O'Brien said he has had several conversations with Sam Katz, the mayor of Winnipeg, about initiatives Mr. Katz has taken to privatize services in his city.
"That's a very good model," the mayor said about Winnipeg last night in an interview with CTV Ottawa.
"With some of the direct service deliveries, we can also look at privatization," Mr. O'Brien added.
Carmen Barnett, Mr. Katz's press secretary, said the Winnipeg mayor would not comment about private conversations he had behind closed doors.
However, she did outline some of Mr. Katz's initiatives since being elected, such as privatizing the city's garbage collection and entering into public-private partnerships to build three new city police stations as well as several city bridges.
Ottawa Councillor Alex Cullen, a vocal critic of Mr. O'Brien's, said last night that Winnipeg-style privatization initiatives will do very little to help reduce the 2008 budget.
"The immediate short term effect of this approach is that it's not going to help in terms of the tax impact of 2008. You simply cannot turn the services around fast enough to end up with tax savings for 2008," Mr. Cullen said.
Mr. O'Brien said in the television interview last night that his promised zero-per-cent tax increase for Ottawa is something he does not intend to compromise on.
"Zero means zero, and I think we can do it. It's icy cold in my mind," he said.
"We need to get there, but we need to do it in a smart way. We can't do it just by slashing jobs. We have to find how to do things better."
Winnipeg has had a property tax freeze for 10 years, Ms. Barnett said, adding that the last city budget, which also contained a 20-per-cent reduction in the city's business tax, was passed by council unanimously.
The number of service cuts necessary for a zero-per-cent tax increase in Ottawa makes a unanimous budget unlikely.
However, Mr. O'Brien said last night that he would not address service cuts in his speech today, preferring to leave that to budget deliberations.
Mr. Cullen said it is absurd for the mayor to insist on a zero-per-cent tax increase without detailing which city services will be affected.
"The public doesn't want another fan dance. He has to come clean and show the public what his plans are and have the guts to stick to his principles."
Mr. O'Brien swept to power a year ago on the strength of essentially three campaign promises: to freeze property taxes for four years; to get the city running more like a business; and to do these things without cutting core services.
Last year, council spotted the newly elected mayor 12-months grace on his promises when they passed a 0.3-per-cent property tax increase budget made possible by raiding reserves, blowing the previous year's surplus, and using other one-time funding sources.
This year, councillors aren't willing to do this, and have essentially told Mr. O'Brien it's time to deliver.
It's a tall order, too. For a property tax freeze in 2008, the mayor will need to find $78 million in savings in a $2.2-billion budget, roughly half of which is provincially mandated spending. In 2009 and 2010, it will be even harder as projects and programs deferred in previous years to keep taxes low are scheduled to start.
The mayor's plan, which he's scheduled to release this morning in a speech to the business community, could make, or break, the remainder of this term of office and his political career.
"This is it," College Councillor Rick Chiarelli said yesterday. "This is what he was elected to do. ... His credibility for the rest of the term may hinge on this."
© Ottawa Citizen 2007
Ottawa Sun (http://www.ottawasun.com/News/BreakingNews/2007/11/06/4636294.html)
The bulk of O’Brien’s $70-million savings plan will come from farming out a portion of four city departments: Real Property Asset Management, which is responsible for managing all city office buildings, Lansdowne Park, water treatment facilities, the Byward and Parkdale markets, Pineview Golf Club, Information Technology, Financial Services and Human Resources.
The four branches of municipal government have a $228-million annual budget and 1,780 full-time equivalent employees.