Toronto residents have say on 2014 city budget

Residents will have a chance to have their say on the city’s 2014 capital and operating budgets at a committee meeting on Monday.

More than 100 speakers had registered with the budget committee by Friday afternoon. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Click here for the agenda and click here to watch the live stream.

Last week, city staff said the $9.6-billion operating budget is starting with a spending pressure of more than $200 million and an additional $43 million due to the provincial funding cuts that affect the city’s housing programs. So city staff recommended a residential property tax hike of 2.5 per cent, which works out to about an extra $64 per household.

That would cover existing programs and services, as well as the Scarborough subway and $14 million in new services. The new and enhanced services next year include $4 million in additional funding for the TTC, $3.1 million for 56 new paramedics and $4 million to support the arts.

Mayor Rob Ford said he wouldn’t support the 2014 budget because it was more than the 1.75-per-cent hike he was promising. And it doesn’t include his promise of a 10-per-cent cut in the municipal land transfer tax.

The difference between the two proposed taxes is about $18 million and Ford has argued that staff should be able to find those savings.

Last week, the deputy mayor said he’s not sure where Ford’s 1.75-per-cent figure came from in the first place.

And budget chief Frank Di Giorgio said, “I believe that a strategy that focuses on cost savings is not sustainable over time.”

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