Hiring Freeze Stats And Reaction

Dryden Mayor Craig Nuttall says a hiring freeze is starting to pay some financial dividends for the municipality.
Since the start of 2011, the City has eliminated 9-full time positions as well as 19-contract positions.
The total cuts don’t include casual and student employees.
Nuttall says they’ve been able to strike a balance between saving money and maintaining service levels.
Nuttall says service levels haven’t declined at all.
He notes they have some great staff who have doubled up some of the work and notes they understand there’s only so much money to go around.
The hiring freeze was put in place to help the community deal with its deficit.
The 2012 minimal wage increase for staff shows a budgeted $9.3-million, up more than $100,000 from 2011.
However, Nuttall says at the end of the fiscal year it will end up being less money paid out to staff.