The City of Calgary isn’t considering any changes to this city’s 311 call-taking, after Edmonton decided to cut Sunday telephone hours starting in March.

Citing budget challenges and a desire to limit the tax increase for 2025, the City of Edmonton will only be taking 311 telephone calls from Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

According to a Global Edmonton story, the City of Edmonton said that 311 call volumes were lower on Sunday, accounting for 6.5 per cent of calls. They said most of the answers for the questions were available online.

The Edmonton 311 website states that “support for essential public safety and urgent bylaw calls will continue to be available on Sundays and after hours.” The City of Edmonton had already closed 311 telephone calls on statutory holidays.

The City of Calgary is aware of Edmonton’s decision to cut Sunday from telephone calls but said it has no plans to follow suit.

“Calgary 311 is a valued City service that receives nearly one million calls annually on nearly 500 different kinds of requests, providing a vital link between Calgarians and City services,” read an emailed City of Calgary response.

Telephone call volumes on Sundays in Calgary are also the lowest day of the week, according to data compiled by LWC. Sunday phone calls account for 5.7 per cent in Calgary, according to City of Calgary data.

According to the City of Calgary, Calgary 311 saw 64,441 phone calls on Sunday.

They said that Calgary 311 continues to achieve high citizen satisfaction survey results, with 2024 results showing 90 per cent satisfaction. They said that Calgary 311 continues to find efficiencies.

“Calgary 311’s permanent staffing remains at 2009 levels. 311 continues to focus on finding efficiencies and service improvements through new technology and automation to conserve resources and improve service,” they said.

“These efficiencies allow continued 24/7 service to Calgarians, including access to speak with a phone agent for urgent and non-urgent requests regardless of time of day.”

Calgary 311 plays an important role: Coun. Penner

The City of Calgary said that they will continue to offer 24/7 access to 311 via phone, web and mobile, including statutory holidays.

Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner questioned how much the City of Edmonton would save overall by not including Sunday phone calls. Then you have to weigh the cost savings against several other factors, she said.

“I would just hope that we would be at a point where we recognize and value the service that 311 is, the ability for people to call in versus using mobile or an app because that’s not accessible to everyone,” Coun. Penner said.

“We know there are people who really actually need to have that human connection. I would hope that if we were ever looking at a class and maybe package that, like cutting 311 on a Sunday, wouldn’t be something that we would look at.”

Coun. Penner said there’s a long-term impact, too. If a localized issue goes unseen or unreported due to inconvenience or inaccessibility of the system, it could build up over time and cause a more costly and time-consuming problem.

“If I couldn’t call it in, let’s say I was the person who would call it in, you’re potentially missing that, because then you forget about it, then you don’t call the next day,” she said.

“The immediacy of people being able to call 311 is really valuable.”

Coun. Penner noted that Calgary 311 has made a number of changes and additions to improve service, allowing it to keep costs lower, like the call-back system .