Craig Burrows is pitching himself as Mr. Details, as the only mayoral candidate to release dollar figures behind his budget-balancing plan for 2011 — albeit one he had to revise as he explained it further.
He provided the Herald on Thursday with figures on how he would demand a wage freeze for all city employees and have a private firm manage the Calgary Parking Authority as part of his plan to find enough funds to bols ter snow removal, discount lunchtime parking and not have to slash transit or fire services.
It would also shave the planned property tax increase from 6.7 per cent to 3.2 per cent, Burrows said.
He challenged other mayoral candidates, particularly Ric McIver, to release the full cost of their budget plans, something rivals say they don’t intend to do.
“I know where to look (for budget savings) because I’ve been there,” Burrows, a former alderman, told the Herald editorial board.
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He did not, however, know the particulars of how city hall currently handles the money from Enmax, a city-owned utility Burrows wants to partly sell.
Burrows’ plan proposes a policy that half of the Enmax dividend should go into Calgary’s operating budget during bad-economy years.
However, current city policy already states that much more than half of it goes to fund city operations.
Pressed on this, Burrows acknowledged he didn’t understand the present system. He’ll instead demand that Enmax double its dividend to the city, which would allow for the $25-million bump his platform proposes.
He also acknowledged that some of his estimates on city worker wage savings and parking reforms may be conservative or rosy, meaning that his planned tax hike could come in at four per cent.
“I can’t give you figures to the exact dollar,” he said, noting that he had to rely on city administrators — whom he wouldn’t name — to come up with his numbers.
He pitched his platform costing as a game-changer, a strong show of transparency that contrasts with McIver’s target of a four per cent tax hike that the apparent front-runner can’t fully explain.
McIver has said he’ll task city managers to find responsible savings to arrive at his planned tax increase by March, rather than the normal November debate period. There’s not enough public city information to determine exact budget trims, he argued.
“Craigy is not going to be accurately able to cost things out,” he said. “If he’s selling something, does he know what he’s going to sell it for?”
McIver released Thursday a policy to boost snow removal, but no price tag was attached. When asked, he said it would likely cost less than $10 million, but that would depend on what quotes the city can get.
Naheed Nenshi and Bob Hawkesworth also said they won’t be offering detailed platforms, but both would aim to work with city staff to find savings that won’t affect front-line services.
jmarkusoff@calgaryherald.com
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