An increase in city staff wages and benefits for 2013 will see costs in some city departments rise while others will have their budgets reduced.
The biggest change is the removal of IT services from each department’s individual budget. Instead of calculating it under each of the seven city departments, IT services are being moved to just one single budget – that being the corporate services department.
The department with the highest budget increase is Protective Services at $731,162 due to a $448,087 increase in the RCMP contract, as well as wage and benefit increases of $259,914.
Premier Christy Clark’s implementation of Family Day – a new provincial holiday scheduled for Monday, Feb. 11 – will force the city to budget $6,300 for an increase in wages to do with paying overtime to CUPE workers.
The Corporate Services department which absorbed the IT and other administration costs from the other departments, at a cost of $419,537, increased its budget by $401,854 over 2012.
In the Operations Department, costs decreased by $235,700.
The Facilities and Supply Management Department decreased its costs by $506,540, largely in part to $450,603 in 2012 project carry forwards.
The City Manager Department’s cost are down by $33,005 while Parks, Recreation and Culture is up by $95,556 due to a $10,000 reduction in the Legacy Landmarks memorial bench program, as well as a $117,263 increase in benefits and wages. The airport budget stays stable at a $0 change.
Overall, the city is budgeting $16.59 million in wages and benefits and $12.79 million in contract services.