Retirement packages for City of Calgary staff will be reviewed

Calgary Mayor NaheedNenshisaid the city will be reviewing salary and benefits packages for civic employees.

Coun. Shane Keatinghad raised concerns about retirement allowances which are equal to the employees' annual vacation entitlements and have been paid by the city since the '80s for retiring workers.

Information about the payouts was revealed earlier this year through a freedom of information request made by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which saidthe city paid out $4.8 million in allowances last year and $3.4 million in 2016.

No 'knee-jerk' response

Nenshi said he doesn't want the city to have a "knee-jerk" response to the allowances, but rather look at the total compensation package.

He said non-union staff have had a pay freeze for more than three years, as well as no performance bonuses andno approved overtime.

"This is actually really complicated stuff and I pushed really hard saying don't just knee-jerk get rid of that," said Nenshi.

"It really is a good time for us to look at a whole salary package and make sure we're being competitive as the whole economy begins to turn around."

Last reviewed in 2010

Keatingsubmitted an inquiry to administration to find out the average tenure of employees that receive the retirement allowance and if it hasresulted in measurable cost savings.

The city's response stated that the average tenure of employees that received the allowance was 27 years, and that the program was last reviewed in 2010.

The external consultant's report will come back to council next year.

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With files from Elizabeth Snaddon.