Apparently, Ford is now claiming that he has
reduced the police budget, despite the fact that the proposed 2012 budget is
$5.9 million higher than 2011.
By the same logic, the new privatized garbage deal (which supposedly will save $11 million - even if you believe the contractor's
fishy claims) will actually
lose taxpayers $29 million a year, since Ford originally promised $40 million in savings.
Meanwhile, Ford still touts the $774 deficit, which we now know ignores reliable sources of income such as parking fees. It is like Rob Ford basing his household budget solely on his councillor's salary, while ignoring investment income from Deco Labels, since he can't know for sure what the exact figure will be.
What's worse, when the City learned that the Land Transfer Tax will, once again, bring in more revenue than the overly conservative forecasts, Mike Del Grande said this is "one-time money" and can't be used for balancing the budget. And then, practically in the same breath, he said the City can and should sell City assets -- one-time money by any conceivable definition -- to balance the budget. Madness!
I could live with honest fiscal conservatism, but the deception and ideological blinkers need to stop.