Saskatoon city auditor to report on ratio of managers to employees

Saskatoon’s finance committee has unanimously voted to direct the city’s independent auditor, Sohail Saleem, to report on the ratio of managers to full-time employees.

Coun. Cynthia Block made the motion near the end of Wednesday’s committee meeting. She also requested the cost of supervisors per Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) overall in each department over the next five years, in comparison with other cities.

“The report should be presented to council prior to the November 2024-25 multi-year budget,” she said.

Before special budget meetings began in June and some savings were found, the city was facing a $52-million funding gap for 2024 and a $23.2-million gap in 2025.

That originally equated to an 18.56 per cent property tax increase in 2024, and 6.95 per cent the next year.

Administration found about $1.5 million in savings in July. At the second of three special budget meetings, councillors reduced the gap by a further $21.6 million in 2024, and by another $1.6 million for 2025.

Block emphasized she was very grateful to administration for all of the additional hours they were putting in to work on the budget.

“We want to be sure as we go through this process that we don’t leave any rock unturned,” she added.

Block told the committee she was hoping that through the motion, the city auditor would be able to assess the city against its own metrics over the last few years, and to also find out how Saskatoon compares with other cities.

Coun. David Kirton asked administration whether the report could be completed in time for budget deliberations. City clerk Adam Tittemore responded in Saleem’s absence.

“It will require prioritizing this audit work over existing audit work within the plan that has been previously approved by the finance committee this May. However, (Saleem) notes that it would delay two of those projects approximately two months, which in his view is not (a) significant impact on those audits or the reports,” said Tittemore.

Coun. Zack Jeffries said motions aren’t passed in council chambers because they think there’s “misinformation out there.” Rather, he said the report would have the ability to help them know whether they’re on the right track, and if not, how they can fix it.

“Both of those things seem like good outcomes to me that not only serve to make the business inside this building better,  but to help reinstill confidence in our ability and city hall’s ability to serve the public in a way that’s efficient, effective and just gets the job done,” he said.

Coun. Randy Donauer said the issue was something the public is talking about.

“I don’t think we should shy away from asking those questions in this chamber either,” he added.

The motion passed unanimously, with Couns. Block, Kirton, Donauer and Jeffries voting in favour.