Providing information to Calgarians is costing the city a premium, with a double-digit cost jump last year.

Between 2010 and 2011, several factors led the cost per call to 311 to increase by 12.6 per cent ‘ from $3.97 to $4.47 ‘ said Terry Pearce, manager of citizen service with 311.

Pearce pointed out that the upgrade to the Calgary.ca website last summer diverted many of their informational calls while they continued to receive more complex calls, which take longer. On average, the length of the call increased by four per cent.

Staff are also making about 3.5 per cent more in 2011 than they did in 2010, said Pearce.

In addition, Pearce said the call volume spikes in the summer, so additional staff are brought on. This year, they had a higher turnover of summer staff, resulting in full-time staff logging more overtime work.

Ald. Andre Chabot said with the new website helping to divert some calls, he would have hoped to see a lower cost per call.

“What’s the point in investing in the Internet and providing greater accessibility to city services and city information if it doesn’t net out a positive result ‘ i.e., fewer 311 calls,” he said. “Something has got to give. You can’t give more to both departments without improved efficiencies.”

Pearce points out, however, that 311 hasn’t added full-time staff in two years and likely won’t be adding more until 2014, when two more employees are budgeted.

“When you consider wages, when you consider some calls are 30 minutes, some are six minutes … it’s reasonable,” he said. “Do we want people to go to different channels to bring that (cost) down? Yes, always.”