Rob Ford's Toronto

[GraphicMatt]

If Ford wants to cut services, he can cut services. What he's done so far is ask city departments to see if they can find efficiencies that result in a 5% budget reduction. He's instructed that there be no major service cuts.

Several city departments have now examined their budgets and determined that they cannot find those kinds of efficiencies.

City departments (and the Mayor, for that matter) do not have the legal ability to drastically change existing collective agreements on a whim.

City departments had also already been instructed to freeze hiring and find efficiencies in their budgets by the previous administration.

 

[GenerationW]

Several city departments have now examined their budgets and determined that they cannot find those kinds of efficiencies.

Not saying they all could trim 5% without much difficulty, but no department will voluntarily submit to such a cut. That's just leaves them wide open for even more downsizing.

 

[js97]

Just does as the "people" say, just 'cause they say it - it doesn't matter if what they want makes sense, through any lens ?!

Isn't that themodel for the NDP platform?

Say whatever the people demand, or shoudl I say, want to hear, hell with logistics, costs and all those minor details.

Hey, let's cut the HST for electricity!

 

[GraphicMatt]

The Ontario NDP does pretty much suck, yes.

 

[spider]

Government agencies have no concept of efficiency or value for money spent. Employees and managers are accustomed to an environment where there is never a funding shortfall, you just ask for and receive what ever money you want. If at year end the agency has money unspent there is no reason to declare a surplus because good fiscal management and thrift are not recognized as positive attributes, so that extra money is pissed away on anything just to make it disappear.

A 5% saving in expenses is attainable anywhere, the 5% is easy, the concept of trying to find it is the problem. I guess I am not surprised at the current mindset of the managers of these agencies but that does not excuse them for not realising that these targets are attainable, if the present lot of top managers can't figure this out then it is time for them to get out of the way.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I put in CFL light bulbs, installed a new high-efficient furnace, and cook and wash clothes on the weekends. I actually use less electricity than I did 5 years, but the hydro bill is higher.

Same with the city budget. They reduce waste and find efficiencies, but the overall cost keeps going up. How can they reduce the budget if the overall costs keeps going up, without cutting services?

 

[spider]

I put in CFL light bulbs, installed a new high-efficient furnace, and cook and wash clothes on the weekends. I actually use less electricity than I did 5 years, but the hydro bill is higher.

Same with the city budget. They reduce waste and find efficiencies, but the overall cost keeps going up. How can they reduce the budget if the overall costs keeps going up, without cutting services?

No, it is not the same with the city departments, they are not reducing waste or finding efficiencies, the concept is totally foreign to them. The city budget is the overall sum of the budgets of all the departments, it is not some stand-alone document created in a vacuum. The individual departments in your City government are not subject to overall rising costs as much as they are the cause of them.

 

[MetroMan]

It's no surprise that all these departments' budgets need to go up. Cost of living rises, contractual annual wage increases. Of course there are going to be cuts if the budget doesn't go up. I'm no accountant but wasn't this obvious to Ford and his team?

The honeymoon will be over once the city budget details come out and there are cuts to services people depend on or have come to enjoy. Some people can't see beyond their noses and this one's gonna hit people where it hurts.

 

[Towered]

And even more to the point--were Toronto to amalgamate w/Mississauga, Mayor Hazel would.

Let's face it though - even at 90, Hazel is robust and intelligent, in stark contrast to Ford.

 

[jje1000]

Monday's budget release should tell us whether Ford's argument that the city has a lot of waste holds water or not.

 

[MetroMan]

It depends on what one considers "waste". If Ford thinks that money spent on the arts and culture, on bike infrastructure, on waterfront redevelopment, on fostering partnerships with other civic leaders, on city building...is "waste", then yes, there was a lot of "waste" under Miller. Many of us here would consider those investments, but we're not the ones who will be touting the enormous "savings" when those items are cut out of the city budget.

 

[jje1000]

I think the 'waste' people are upset about is due not so much to true waste, but is instead because of poor coordination within, and between departments.

This is one thing that needs to change.

 

[W. K. Lis]

It depends on what one considers "waste". If Ford thinks that money spent on the arts and culture, on bike infrastructure, on waterfront redevelopment, on fostering partnerships with other civic leaders, on city building...is "waste", then yes, there was a lot of "waste" under Miller. Many of us here would consider those investments, but we're not the ones who will be touting the enormous "savings" when those items are cut out of the city budget.

Another example is snowplowing. Plowing of sidewalks maybe a waste to those who don't walk on the sidewalk, but for those of us who walk to the transit stop the plowing of sidewalks is not a waste.

Anything that one does not make use of now can be considered a waste, until one needs it.

 

[nfitz]

Another example is snowplowing. Plowing of sidewalks maybe a waste to those who don't walk on the sidewalk, but for those of us who walk to the transit stop the plowing of sidewalks is not a waste.

Anything that one does not make use of now can be considered a waste, until one needs it.

Given the part of the city with the most used sidewalks and the most walking doesn't plow the sidewalks - then I think cutting the sidewalk plowing in the suburbs that currently have it is an easy thing to justify doing.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Given the part of the city with the most used sidewalks and the most walking doesn't plow the sidewalks - then I think cutting the sidewalk plowing in the suburbs that currently have it is an easy thing to justify doing.

For Rob Ford's love affair with the car, I guess you are right. For better access to public transit, plowing the sidewalks in the suburbs is a must.