How can service levels be sustained with so many positions unfilled? Tim Maguire asks as the City's 2014 Budget cycle begins
Dear Councillor Shiner and Members of the Government Management Committee:
RE: GM24.15 – 2014 Service Level Review
Court Services, 311, Fleet, Facilities Management and Real Estate (excluding the Environment & Energy Office), Information & Technology and the Office of the Treasurer
I would like to congratulate Councillor Shiner on his appointment to Chair the Government Management Committee. The work that this Committee administers is very important to the governance of the City, its transparency, and accountability in decision-making.
The Service Level Review before the Committee today is prefaced by the financial pressures being exerted on the 2014 Budget. After reading through the list of pressing financial imperatives facing the City, it seems more baffling than ever that revenue streams like the Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) and residential property taxes are slated for reduction. A 10 per cent reduction in the case of the MLTT and a $6 million revenue reduction based on 0.25% reduction to the residential property tax increase will bring even more pressure to bear on the delivery of City services that are already flat-lined and chronically under-resourced.
According to the Report by the Deputy City Manager and the Chief Financial Officer, service levels will mostly remain at current levels with rosy projections for the future, the exceptions being Information & Technology and the Office of the Treasurer.
However, a week ago at Budget Committee we learned from the Staff Report that mid-way through the 2013 Operating Budget year the City has over 2,500 vacant positions across its Divisions, Agencies, Boards and Commissions.
The contradiction is blatant: how can service levels be sustained with so many positions unfilled?
How can service levels be projected to the end of 2013 and into 2014 when there are no accurate figures available for the actual number of employees working in the Divisions? What we have in the Service Level Review are the Budget-approved numbers but no indication or verification that the full staff complements were ever achieved in 2013.
City Council often approves a certain complement of staff, yet many positions remain unfilled. This is exactly what appears to be happening as the 2014 budget process begins.
The most apparent example is IT. The Service Level Review states that there are 748 budgeted Full-Time positions in 2013 but no ‘actual’ figures appear in the Review. It is informative to look back at what happened to IT staffing levels in 2012. There were 648 positions approved, but by the end of the year only 587.0 positions were filled. 61 positions remained vacant.
It will be very interesting to review the actual figures, in all areas, when they are finally released. Then, and only then, can we begin to get a clearer picture of exactly what is going on. For example, 311 Toronto has an ever-growing volume with a high satisfaction rating for the services it provides. With technological advances the volume is expected to increase substantially in the years to come. So, for example, what are the actual staffing levels in 311 this year?
Local 79 notes that an “external review of fleet operations, maintenance processes and contracted services, to ensure that operations are effective, properly structured and that appropriate controls exist” has been recommended. Local 79 would like to be engaged in this service review, as we have been engaged in other service reviews, in order to be a voice for the front-line workers in the Fleet Division.
Local 79 applauds this recommendation for the review to include contracted services. In 2011 and 2012, CUPE Local 79 questioned the contracting out of auto parts warehouse management if City employees were no longer involved and we wrote the City Manager expressing our concerns about large contracts like this (over $20 million) not going to full Council for review. Councillors serving on the Government Management Committee should demand more details and background on this issue before adopting any recommendation from the Service Level Review.
Contracting out is a quick fix when Divisions are suffering from staff shortages, but this only creates longer-term problems when there is no staff development to achieve full staffing complements in the City workforce.
What this Committee and Councillors are being asked to do is adopt the Service Level Review that raises many questions and provides so few answers.
How can you project service levels without accurate staffing levels?
There appears to be little relationship between budget pressures and how service levels are maintained with so many staff vacancies.
Yours truly,
Tim Maguire, President