CFIB: Calgary overspending by $8,600 per household
Posted Nov 3, 2015 11:20 am.
Last Updated Nov 3, 2015 11:31 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Overspending in 14 of Canada’s major cities has become a major problem, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
A new study finds Calgary is among the municipalities crying poor with a charge card at the ready. The details are highlighted in the CFIB’s ‘Municipal Spending Watch 2015.’
Over a ten year period, the study found a deficit of $68-billion across the country.
“Municipalities don’t have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem,” said Nina Gormanns, senior research analyst with the CFIB.
“Operating spending grew by four times as much as population between 2003 and 2013,” she said tallying the excessive city spending to an estimated $5,200 per Canadian household over the same time period.
The report compares civic spending to population growth, suggesting a widespread ballooning of the budget across the country, but especially in the 14 major cities detailed.
The City of Victoria prevailed as the worst offender, but Calgary showed few signs of bucking the trend.
“For Calgary,” Gormanns told 660 NEWS, “when you compare how much more they spent compared to our benchmark, which is population growth, that’s around three times.”
A solution is simple. “We are asking municipalities or city councils to really limit their spending increases to no more than inflation and population growth,” she said.
In Calgary, for example, the city overspent by $3.6-billion during the study period. That’s $8,600 per household.
Municipal employee compensation is earmarked as the number one contributor to the red budgets. Edmonton and Montreal reported the highest salaries, wages and benefits for civic workers in 2013, about 64-per cent of their respective operating budgets. Calgary showed up in the middle of the pack, at 58-per cent.
“In Calgary, employees at the city are compensated around 19-per cent more than their counterparts in the private sector,” Gormanns said, “so addressing unsustainable employee compensation is the logical place to start where the city can find savings within its’ current budget.”
The CFIB also suggests senior levels of government could help by freeze unconditional transfers to cities. And, municipalities should be limiting their funding requests to provincial and federal administrations.
