Chatham-Kent (CK) Mayor-elect Michael Bondy is hoping to ease concerns about possible mass layoffs to find savings in the municipal budget.
The Mayor-elect spoke with CK News Today ahead of next week's swearing-in ceremony about his desire to cut spending to help local taxpayers.
He understands why people are waiting to see if there will be a large number of jobs cut since the municipality will spend nearly $200 million on salaries and benefits this year. That said, Bondy said he never had the intention of just eliminating positions to find savings.
He believes if any positions are eliminated, it'll most likely happen through attrition.
"I don't think layoffs are going to be necessary. It's a really big organization, and there are a lot of people who move on to different organizations, a lot of people retire," explained Bondy.
Once he's officially sworn in as mayor, Bondy plans to meet with senior administration about having them go through their departments to try and find redundancies, possible reallocation of funds, and other ways to save money.
While he agreed there may be some tough decisions, he plans to keep his campaign promise of trying to find any savings he can.
"I don't think we can continually raise taxes five to six per cent every year," added Bondy.
He also doesn't want to promise that there will be massive cuts since he hasn't had any discussions with senior leadership. While CK's council ultimately approves the municipality's budget, Bondy explained that he never knew the inner workings of each department like staff and previous mayors have.
"Maybe we can't [find savings]; I don't know the answer. I have to get into the chair before I can really dive into it," said Bondy.
Bondy's also putting his confidence in the municipality's administration, noting that staff does great work and will do what they can to find any savings possible.
