Brampton mayor wants staff salaries reviewed

Linda Jeffrey says she not sure how well the city works as council discusses scathing financial report.

Thestar.com
Jan. 29, 2015
By San Grewal

New Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey wants to take aim at staff salaries, after a critical review of the city's finances revealed payroll costs have exploded.

“It would appear to the public that we have a very large staff, a very well paid staff. But we're not giving the level of customer service that the public expects,” Jeffrey said Thursday evening after a special council meeting to address a critical financial report card from former Ontario auditor-general Jim McCarter.

“How many people are on the Sunshine list (public employees in Ontario making $100,000 and up)? It's a pretty high number I would say. At the province (Jeffrey was an MPP for 11 years) we froze our salaries for five years. But I haven't seen that in Brampton.” Immediately after taking office, Jeffrey cut her own salary by about $50,000.

“I'm still trying to understand who does what at the city," said Jeffrey, who has been on the job for about seven weeks. "I'm not sure how well it works yet. I think the jury is still out on that."

Jeffrey said that during last year's municipal election campaign a common complaint she heard was the perception of a bloated bureaucracy.

McCarter's report appears to support those concerns.

He pointed out that 94 per cent of tax revenue increases in the city over the last decade have gone to the city’s payroll.

Outgoing CAO John Corbett defended staffing levels, stating that in a rapidly growing city you have to “staff-up", explaining that employees have to be hired ahead of future growth, to be in place when services are needed.

Councillor John Sprovieri questioned Corbett, stating that lots of cities have gone through rapid growth periods.

He and Jeffrey said they want to see an analysis of how Brampton's staffing levels and costs compare to other municipalities.

McCarter's report also pointed out that:

• The city has $215 million of debt, despite claims it is debt free.
• The skyrocketing city payroll is eating up 94 per cent of the increased revenues from property taxes.
• An infrastructure renewal backlog of “hundreds of millions of dollars” has been growing without any clear plan to aggressively deal with this gap.
• Senior city staff have verified that Brampton’s capital reserves “are almost fully depleted.”
• Other municipalities across the GTA have been more aggressive than Brampton in addressing future infrastructure needs.
• And a massive downtown re-development may be costing taxpayers tens of millions more than it should have.

McCarter was brought in by Jeffrey, who in December brought forward a motion to have the former Ontario auditor-general examine Brampton’s finances following a series of damning reports over the last four years under Susan Fennell’s leadership.

Councillors, other than former longtime budget chair Gael Miles who said the report shows the city is in a “pretty sound financial position,” warned the report is a sobering wake-up call. Many said some tough choices are ahead as the city enters budget talks.

Choices between debt, higher taxes, service cuts or higher user fees are now all on the table, several said.

McCarter’s report comes days after the city announced the departure of Brampton’s top bureaucrat, CAO John Corbett. He replaced Deborah Dubenofsky in 2012, when she departed after her contract was not renewed.

Another report by Brampton’s interim auditor-general, George Rust-D’Eye, is expected soon. Rust-D’Eye is investigating allegations that the downtown development project was not awarded fairly by staff and other controversies that have dogged the plan.

The Ontario Provincial Police is also conducting an investigation into Fennell’s spending and that of council members. Councillors voted for the police investigation after a forensic audit last summer by Deloitte Canada found Fennell and her staff broke spending rules 266 times over seven years, totalling $172,608.