Retirement allowances paid by city questioned by Calgary councillor

A Calgary city councillorsays he'snot happy with the answers he's getting about retirement allowances for civic employees.

The allowances which are equal to the employees' annual vacation entitlements have been paid by the city since the 1980s for retiring employees.

Information about the payouts was revealed earlier this year through a freedom of information request made by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which saidthe city paid out $4.8 million in allowances last year and $3.4 million in 2016.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS|First of 3 'drinking birds' installed outside new Calgary Central Library
• MORE CALGARY NEWS|CBE severs ties with Calgary Pregnancy Care Centre after 'pattern' of questions

Coun. Shane Keating asked city administrators about the program, including why it was put in place.

On Friday, the Ward 12representative said he doesn't feel any further ahead in understanding why it exists.

"As it is now, I don't really see the benefit other than strictly giving a bonus to those who have retired, and I'm not sure that's exactly what we should be doing in this day and age," he said.

The allowances are designed to help retain employees and encourage them to stay until they reach retirement. The average length of service for employees getting the payment is 27 years.

And the program which the city intends to keep hasn't been reviewed since 2010.

Keating saidhe'll express his displeasure to the city manager at next week's council meeting.

And if nothing happens, Keating saidhe plans to discuss it with his council colleagues to see if they should do more to encourage the city to drop or alter the program.

• Readmorearticles byCBCCalgary, like us onFacebookfor updates and subscribe to ourCBC Calgarynewsletterfor the day's news at a glance