Council votes on proposed cuts

A particularly tense special session of city council resumed Tuesday with councillors debating and voting on a series of controversial proposals, including the potential sale of the Toronto Zoo and eliminating the Christmas Bureau.

Service cuts were first on the agenda, followed by a vote on a user fee policy and a voluntary separation program. The city manager had told councillors on Monday that the proposed recommendations covered about $29 million in potential savings for the city.

The first round of votes saw some key developments.

A motion carried, 23-22, to recommend the general manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation to issue a request for expression of interest to operate the city’s zoos and farms, except Riverdale Farm.

Applause broke out after council voted 25-20 against the privatization of the Toronto Parking Authority. But a motion to spare daycares and nursing homes from being considered for privatization was rejected, 25-20.

Council overwhelmingly approved (40-5) a motion to explore having Heritage Toronto run museums as non-profit rather than shutting them.

In another landslide vote, council voted 44-1 to eliminate paid duty police officers at construction sites.

Libraries are still at risk though, after council rejected a motion to exclude the library system from all types of potential cuts moving forward.  

Other key votes:  34-11 to end the distribution of four free garbage tags and 24-21 to try and sell off the city’s three theatres.

Christmas also took a hit.  As Coun. Paula Fletcher tweeted, “votes 25 to 20 to fire Santa and eliminate the Christmas Bureau that co-ordinates gifts for the poor and need (sic) like the Star Fund.”

The final motion saw council vote 30-12 in favour of the voluntary separation program, which will offer buyout packages to eligible employees.

Budget chief, Coun. Mike Del Grande, seemed frustrated after the first round of votes.

“There’s a segment of council that’s said no to anything, “no, no, no, no,” and they haven’t provided any alternatives,” he told reporters.

“In the lack of any alternatives we’ve had to move forward with the first portion, which was asking the question ‘What should we be involved in, what should the city be doing and at what level should we be doing that?”

When council resumed they voted to adopt a user fee policy (see the policy here).

During the heated first session of this debate on Monday, Mayor Rob Ford faced criticism for his decision to cut the Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), which brought in about $64 million a year.

On Tuesday Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam claimed the mayor “misled” council on the tax. The rookie councillor said she received an assurance from Ford during a council meeting in December that repealing the VRT wouldn’t result in service reductions or cuts.

“As a new councillor, I took the mayor at face value and gave him my vote, assuming we that we were all operating in a place of good faith,” she said.

“It’s clear that we were misled.”

Ford has also promised to get rid of the Land Transfer Tax by the end of his term.

The conversation veered off-course late in the morning when de-amalgamation became a hot issue after Coun. Paula Fletcher introduced a motion to ask the province to grant the city the ability to break apart.

“It costs to be amalgamated and to run a big urban city of 2.5 million people,” she said.

The motion was later rejected.

Watch the attached video to hear her argument.

Watch a live stream of the meeting here.

Tracking #topoli and #tocouncil on Twitter:

The beginning of Monday’s session was heated, with several councillors hammering the mayor on city manager Joe Pennachetti’s report, which was based on a core service review released by consultant KPMG this summer.

Ford insisted the city is facing a $774-million shortfall for the 2012 budget. Some councillors questioned that figure.

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Several councillors also raised concern about making decisions on service cuts without having exact figures on the proposals. Ford said those numbers will come out during the budget process later this fall.

The cost of scrapping Transit City wasn’t factored into the mayor’s $774 million figure.

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