Executive committee OK’s amended city budget, capital spending plans
Posted January 12, 2012 10:33 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The city’s executive committee voted Thursday to reverse several budget cuts, setting the stage for city council to debate and vote on the amended 2012 budget and the 10-year capital spending plan at a three-day meeting next week.
Council will now consider $80 millions in service cuts to the budget when it meets Jan. 17-19, down from a proposed $88 million.
The proposed cuts contained in the $9.4-billion budget come after the mayor called on all city departments to reduce spending by 10 per cent to plug a $774-million shortfall.
Motions were introduced Thursday to stop reductions to the Toronto Public Library, prevent the closing of three homeless shelters, eliminate reductions to arts funding and to allocate the city surplus to the TTC.
The committee voted on all the motions as a package, approving all of them at once. Here are the highlights:
- No reductions to library hours.
- The Toronto Public Library will provide customer counts for each library by week date and by the hour.
- Downsview Dells, Birchmount Residence and Bellwoods House will not be closed until each of the current residents is transferred to appropriate housing.
- City will continue to fund $1.9 million for Arts and Culture Grants.
- Budget surplus of $154 million will go to financing capital projects for the TTC.
- City will continue to fund local sidewalk clearing.
The city shuffled money that was already in its budget, including an assessment fund on new buildings, to save the programs.
Coun. Michelle Berardinetti tabled a motion Thursday endorsing the library budget cut on the condition operating hours aren’t reduced.
Coun.Giorgio Mammoliti suggested postponing the closing of three homeless shelters until residents could find more permanent homes.
“I’d like to do that as quickly as possible … we shouldn’t be hurting the most vulnerable in our society.”
Coun. Peter Milczyn introduced a motion to keep funding for arts grants, saying the outside partnership helped to leverage the city’s money.
“Not every department has been able — or willing — to make the same amount of reductions. The key difference in grants to arts and culture is that are not about city staff or building up empires within. It’s a partnership with other stakeholders. It’s external service delivery. We are looking at outside partnerships to leverage our money.”
Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong introduced a motion to allocate the city’s $154-million surplus to the TTC, specifically to Capital Reserve Financing.
“It should not go into operating costs — we’re going to see that reappear as a problem next year. This is saying that transit is a priority and it’s going to pay for streetcars and the other assets we need to improve the TTC.”
The proposed library budget cut sparked famed author Margaret Atwood to once again call on her Twitter followers to voice their opposition about the cuts.
“#Toronto voters: your councillors did not hear you. Please remind them that you don’t want your #TPL library trashed,” she tweeted on Jan. 10.
Atwood faced off against the mayor’s brother, Coun. Doug Ford, when she urged her Twitter followers to protest library cuts this summer.
Mayor Rob Ford chairs the executive committee and opened Thursday’s meeting by insisting the proposed 2012 budget is a “smart” plan.
Click here to read Ford’s opening statements.
“There has been a lot of fear mongering about this budget, but the reality is this is a reasonable, responsible budget,” he said.
“Our residents deserve a government that sets priorities and lives within its means and we were elected to do just that and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
The proposed 2012 operating budget contains a 2.5 per cent property tax increase and the mayor said homeowners can’t afford anything more.
“After months and months and talking to thousands of people they come up and say we can barely afford a 2.5 per cent tax increase, just barely. They cannot afford a penny more,” he said.
Ford also reiterated the $154-million surplus must be used to pay for new TTC vehicles. He also noted other levels of government are going through similar cost-cutting processes.
Ford said the province is planning to trim programs by 30 per cent.
“We’re just asking for 10,” he said.
