unimaginative2
Senior Member
City staff fall short on cuts
TORONTO STAR FILE
Despite two weeks of emergency cost cutting, Toronto city manager Shirley Hoy has been unable to find all of the $100 million in savings called for by Mayor David Miller.
Today, she'll release a "cost containment" report slashing an immediate $83 million from the city budget, a fraction of the $575 million deficit the city expects to be staring at next year. The cuts will reduce services "right across the board,'' she said yesterday.
Pretty well every division connected to city hall – police, fire, parks and recreation, solid waste management and more – will come under the knife in some way, though certain areas won't be touched for reasons of public safety.
"I'm not going to be accepting any options that take fire trucks out of service. That's a huge public safety issue. In the same way we're not going to take paramedics out of emergency vehicles,'' Hoy said.
That's a large reason why her work fell short of the mayor's target, imposed after city council voted 23-22 to defer until Oct. 22 a decision on implementing a land transfer tax and vehicle registration fee – two new taxes aimed at raising $356 million annually to ease Toronto's budget crisis.
The new taxes were to come into effect at the start of next year, and delaying them created a fiscal emergency, according to Miller.
One reason containing costs proved so difficult for Hoy became apparent yesterday during a meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board. Police Chief Bill Blair, who had been ordered on July 20 to find $10 million in savings, told the board he could promise only about $3 million of that through means such as employee attrition and reducing out-of-town travel.
The board opted to seek a bailout of sorts, by appealing to the province to cover at least some of the skyrocketing $43.5 million cost of court security currently borne by the police budget.
"The chief talked to me before the meeting today. The police have looked at everything. ... We worked with them to streamline wherever possible,'' Hoy said, calling Blair's cost-saving measures a "work in progress'' as the city continues its pursuit of savings.
Aside from demanding cuts of $10 million each from police, fire and ambulance, Hoy has ordered the TTC to find $30 million. Consideration was given to mothballing the Sheppard subway line and eliminating more than 20 bus routes, but decisions on those moves have been put off until September.
Other city services won't get such a reprieve today.
Everything from litter picking to non-emergency road repairs and tree trimming will be hit in Hoy's report. She refused to rule out the possibility of pool closings.
"I can't get into that level of specifics, but certainly all the major municipal services – parks, transportation, solid waste – we had to look at because those are the big budget pressure areas,'' she said.
The library system has announced $1.2 million in cuts including eliminating Sunday hours at 16 branches and not buying 14,000 items.
Hoy's cuts are expected to affect the city's 4,600 temporary workers, but Brian Cochrane, president of CUPE Local 416, promises a battle should the city violate contracts.
City workers in libraries, garbage collection and parks are "very anxious," he said, adding the city hasn't included the union in any discussions.
"We've just been told that there's going to be a briefing" this morning prior to the public announcement, he said.
The reduction in library hours is already being examined as to whether it violates a collective agreement. The contract may also guarantee seasonal employees advance notice before a layoff, Cochrane argued.
If workers are laid off illegally, the city may be liable for retroactive wages, Cochrane added.
"I don't know to what end they expect this to be a viable solution if they have to wind up paying (retroactively) if they violate the collective agreements,'' he said.
TORONTO STAR FILE
Despite two weeks of emergency cost cutting, Toronto city manager Shirley Hoy has been unable to find all of the $100 million in savings called for by Mayor David Miller.
Today, she'll release a "cost containment" report slashing an immediate $83 million from the city budget, a fraction of the $575 million deficit the city expects to be staring at next year. The cuts will reduce services "right across the board,'' she said yesterday.
Pretty well every division connected to city hall – police, fire, parks and recreation, solid waste management and more – will come under the knife in some way, though certain areas won't be touched for reasons of public safety.
"I'm not going to be accepting any options that take fire trucks out of service. That's a huge public safety issue. In the same way we're not going to take paramedics out of emergency vehicles,'' Hoy said.
That's a large reason why her work fell short of the mayor's target, imposed after city council voted 23-22 to defer until Oct. 22 a decision on implementing a land transfer tax and vehicle registration fee – two new taxes aimed at raising $356 million annually to ease Toronto's budget crisis.
The new taxes were to come into effect at the start of next year, and delaying them created a fiscal emergency, according to Miller.
One reason containing costs proved so difficult for Hoy became apparent yesterday during a meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board. Police Chief Bill Blair, who had been ordered on July 20 to find $10 million in savings, told the board he could promise only about $3 million of that through means such as employee attrition and reducing out-of-town travel.
The board opted to seek a bailout of sorts, by appealing to the province to cover at least some of the skyrocketing $43.5 million cost of court security currently borne by the police budget.
"The chief talked to me before the meeting today. The police have looked at everything. ... We worked with them to streamline wherever possible,'' Hoy said, calling Blair's cost-saving measures a "work in progress'' as the city continues its pursuit of savings.
Aside from demanding cuts of $10 million each from police, fire and ambulance, Hoy has ordered the TTC to find $30 million. Consideration was given to mothballing the Sheppard subway line and eliminating more than 20 bus routes, but decisions on those moves have been put off until September.
Other city services won't get such a reprieve today.
Everything from litter picking to non-emergency road repairs and tree trimming will be hit in Hoy's report. She refused to rule out the possibility of pool closings.
"I can't get into that level of specifics, but certainly all the major municipal services – parks, transportation, solid waste – we had to look at because those are the big budget pressure areas,'' she said.
The library system has announced $1.2 million in cuts including eliminating Sunday hours at 16 branches and not buying 14,000 items.
Hoy's cuts are expected to affect the city's 4,600 temporary workers, but Brian Cochrane, president of CUPE Local 416, promises a battle should the city violate contracts.
City workers in libraries, garbage collection and parks are "very anxious," he said, adding the city hasn't included the union in any discussions.
"We've just been told that there's going to be a briefing" this morning prior to the public announcement, he said.
The reduction in library hours is already being examined as to whether it violates a collective agreement. The contract may also guarantee seasonal employees advance notice before a layoff, Cochrane argued.
If workers are laid off illegally, the city may be liable for retroactive wages, Cochrane added.
"I don't know to what end they expect this to be a viable solution if they have to wind up paying (retroactively) if they violate the collective agreements,'' he said.
