District of Summerland today cut back on staffing costs by not replacing the superintendent of public works, who is retiring at the end of January, not replacing the director of parks and recreation, who retired at the end of December, and not replacing the deputy fire chief who has left for another job.

These are management positions – 3 CUPE positions are being let go as well and one IBEW member in the electrical division.

In order to re structure the district will hire a manager of financial services and will establish a new GIS database technician.

Net loss appears to be 5 positions saving about a half million dollars in order to balance a budget that has seen a reduction in revenue due to a lack of development.

Mayor Janice Perrino says the staff that were cut were not at fault.

“We are not blaming anyone and we are taking clear note of our reality,” she said. “We want the citizens of Summerland to know what we are going through and that we can’t keep going in this direction.”

Castanet.