Sudbury's new interim CAO says staff understand "urgency" of cutting $6M from budget

Sudbury city council got a short update Tuesday night on what staff are calling the $6 million project.

That's the amount of money council pulled from reserves in order to freeze taxes this year.

City staff were then tasked with trimming that much from the budget, mostly by cutting the municipal workforce by not replacing retiring or departing employees.

But Tuesday, Ward 5 City councillor Robert Kirwan said he's worried after seeing dozens of postings on the city job website.

"I'm a little concerned that if we don't get into the game, we're going to have difficulty achieving this target," said Kirwan, noting that this work has to be complete before the 2016 budget talks, which are just a few months away.

Interim chief administrative officer Bob Johnston, who moved over from the Sudbury airport after the sudden departure of CAO Doug Nadorozny last month, said many of those postings are for temporary position.

"Been in the position obviously a short time, really starting yesterday," said Johnston. "I can tell you a considerable focus of mine has been meeting with the P6M team."

P6M is short hand for Project $6 million and Johnston said the team is finding ways to deliver the same city services with fewer employees.

"At this time I know the team is committed to that. There's some urgency with timelines. We understand that fully."

City council heard that a progress report is expected to presented at a meeting on June 16.