by As the union for crossing guards prepared to protest over recent cuts today, CBRM interim CAO Marie Walsh is warning of more to come.
Last month, Cape Breton Regional Council voted to eliminate nine crossing guard positions, saving more than $114,000 dollars.
Other cost saving measures will see the transit service reduced by 200 hours a week and a total of 29 job losses through attrition.
At last night’s council meeting, Walsh said it will take two to three years for the CBRM to get any financial help from an ongoing provincial-municipal fiscal review.
She adds that means the municipality will have to look at more staffing cuts and even the possibility of eliminating grants for all community-based organizations and non-profit groups as early as September.
Meanwhile, the province has been placing more emphasis on the residential tax effort while the CBRM argues high residential and commercial tax rates will stifle economic development.
The tax effort is the percentage of the average property owner’s income used to pay municipal taxes.
The CBRM falls in the middle of the pack on that measure among the province’s 54 municipalities.
Today’s rally by the crossing guards will get underway at 4:00 this afternoon in front of the Civic Centre in Sydney.