City Releases List Of Facilities Affected By Budget Cuts

You heard the outline earlier this month but on Friday, you learned the specifics. Toronto has officially released details of all its service cuts, including the names of all the community centres that will be shut down one day a week, the ice rinks and golf courses that will be curtailed, the libraries that will be closed on Sundays and what will happen once staff stops cutting grass and pulls back on keeping city parks maintained.

The document doesn’t contain anything new, just tells residents how the buildings or programs in their area will be affected. One revelation that will encompass the entire city – and those from the 905 who drive here –  is pothole repair. Whereas the city used to send out crews as quickly as possible to fix the road ruts, now only those deemed dangerous will be attended to immediately. What happens to the others? They’ll be marked with a cone and the workers will fix them “when it’s feasible.” But there’s no word on how many days “feasible” might take.

The cuts were announced as part of a multi-million dollar shortfall Mayor David Miller claims was created when councillors refused to approve several expensive new taxes. He also blames Queen’s Park for not coming to the city’s rescue, arguing their downloading created the crisis in the first place. And with the revelation that the province is sitting on a $2.3 billion surplus it won’t share to help bail out T.O., his anger is likely only to increase – even if, for now, your levies won’t.

A vote on the new deferred taxes will be made in October – immediately after the Ontario election.

To see the full list of which facilities are affected, click here. (.pdf file)