Hamilton staff to produce list of what didn’t make it to list of budget cuts seen by council

John Best The Bay Observer January 29, 2026

A motion by Councillor Jeff Beattie could lead to a behind-the-scenes peek into how staff approach budget deliberations. An unintended consequence of the accidental disclosure of recommendations to close down icemaking at Stoney Creek arena, and possible closure of Wild Waterworks, is that it has revealed the existence of a list of cost-cutting measures developed as contingency by staff that has not been shared with council. Given that the list of measures used to get the Hamilton budget increase down to its current 4.5 percent were relatively painless, affecting neither existing staff nor programs, it is believed the list may contain more aggressive cost-cutting proposals, like the two that slipped out Friday. With that in mind, Stoney Creek councillor Jeff Beatttie proposed that the entire list be made available for examination by council.

Initially staff seemed reluctant, pointing out that some measures might point to identifiable staff, which would have to be discussed in-camera, and some of them apparently do propose service cuts, which Mayor Horwath has said is off the table. Service cuts or not, Beattie pressed to see the entire list of staff-proposed savings measures.

City manager Marnie Cluckie ultimately agreed to produce the list in time for the February 6th budget meeting. It could prove to be an interesting exercise, in that the list could provide insight into how far staff were prepared to go in cost-cutting if forced to do so. The exercise takes on added urgency as councillors, including those on the fiscally-conservative side, are sensitive to a growing unrest among taxpayers in this election year, that could impact all members of council, not just the free-spenders.