Over $1,000,000 in red tape cut at City Hall

March 12, 2012 – The reduction of red tape at The City of Calgary has led to approximately $1,121,697 in money and equivalent time savings to City departments and citizens. Since this initiative was launched in 2011, citizens, businesses, and City of Calgary employees have recommended hundreds of ways to cut red tape and make it easier and more efficient to work with the City of Calgary.

“This is an important milestone made possible by the great ideas of many Calgarians and the hard work of my colleagues at The City,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “We must continue to cut red tape, or stop it before it even develops, to ensure The City is an efficient facilitator of good things for citizens and businesses.”

The savings estimate is based on reports, to date, that revised City of Calgary processes have saved 33,043 hours of citizen and City employee time. It does not include additional savings such as travel or parking costs or the potential revenue gained by opening a business or selling a product sooner.

Examples of improved processes include:

• Allowing trades and businesses to see the estimated fees prior to completing online applications
• Streamlined business licences for businesses operating in multiple locations
• Enabled 3-1-1 access to view trade permits online
• Increased ability for citizens to register for recreation classes by training 50 staff across the city to complete the registration at the facility counter
• Increased (and continue to increase) the number of online Service Requests from 40 to now over 100

For more examples of red tape cut at The City of Calgary, please visit here or visit www.cutredtape.ca.

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