It's always cause for alarm bells when the phrase "essential services" is invoked within the context of mass job cuts.
And when one of the territory's main directorates announces it will cut more than 100 jobs to "manage current budget pressures", the outlook for that directorate is clearly grim.
In this case, the City and Environment Directorate, the body responsible for public transport, waste management, planning and development of the city and the general upkeep of environmental layout and sustainability, is on the chopping block.
But it's director-general Dave Peffer's comment about continuing to deliver "essential services" that is cause for concern.
Announcing the cuts on Thursday, Mr Peffer said between 3 and 5 per cent of the workforce, or roughly 130 roles, had to be cut, and as a way of "ensuring we can afford the workforce we have in the City and Environment Directorate while continuing to deliver essential services to the Canberra community".
These are the types of services that are largely visible in everyday life, and the ones most likely to cause disruption and consternation to Canberra taxpayers.
There's a good argument, then, that the work already being done to manage the city and its environment needs all the resourcing it can get, and more.
And plenty would beg to differ that this has manifestly been the case to date.
Canberra is a city of high standards, where performing the bare minimum of upkeep is never an option.
Canberra is a city of high standards, where performing the bare minimum of upkeep is never an option. Canberrans take pride in their city, and are quick to point out where upkeep is substandard.
And as the city grows and morphs, the need to keep up with the changing built and environmental landscape is ever more important. The notion that more can be done with less is questionable - it almost always is.
Addressing concerns that workers were already "under the pump", Mr Peffer maintained that "teams won't be expected to do more with less".
"We'll work with affected teams to adjust workloads, reduce or remove activities, and ensure the work being done reflects the teams or workforce we have available to do the work," he said.
While it's true the ACT government is itself under pressure to manage its budgets more responsibly, Mr Peffer's reassurances seem to miss the point of the directorate's actual function.
Or, more to the point, the many functions it performs that are inextricably woven into the everyday lives of Canberrans.
Reducing workloads must inevitably mean reducing services, at a time when the city needs more services than ever.
Mr Peffer pointed out that the directorate had taken other budgetary steps including reducing senior executives by 40 per cent and removing layers of management in parts of the organisation, "to ensure our focus remains on delivering essential services for the community".
But, as the regional secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union Maddy Northam said on Thursday, the cuts meant the city risked "falling behind on environmental and sustainable living matters which our community deeply values".
The economist Saul Eslake has already called out the ACT government for the "significant deterioration" of its financial position, and for spending big on services without also generating the necessary revenue. Cutting staff for essential services like waste management, grass cutting and public transport isn't the logical response to such criticism.
