Mayor Marianne Matichuk wants Sudbury's workforce trimmed

Sudbury's mayor is unhappy with the 2.9 per cent tax hike council approved Wednesday night.

Marianne Matichuk said the way to cut that back is to shorten the payroll at city hall.

"I still think there's way too many employees and that's my personal opinion,” she said.

It was also a key platform in the last election for Mayor Marianne Matichuk.

But three years into her term, the staff complement of 2,000 workers hasn't gone down.

On Wednesday council heard that, since amalgamation in 2001, the city workforce has grown by more than 300 employees — many of them in emergency services and at Pioneer Manor.

Matichuk said the payroll in Greater Sudbury is growing much faster than the population.

"I don't think there's a need for an extra 328 employees. The city has not gotten that big,” she said.

Matichuk successfully pushed for an attrition policy, which shaved half a million dollars in salaries and benefits last year.

But she said she thinks too many vacant positions are still being filled.

However, City councillor Terry Kett doesn't like that aggressive approach.

"Continually talking about attrition, attrition, attrition,” he said. “That's really hard on all of our staff."

Kett said he would like to see a detailed staffing review to see which city departments have too many workers and which ones don't have enough.