TTC fails to meet Tory’s budget cut request
Posted December 19, 2016 3:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Even with a planned fare hike, the TTC says it is still millions of dollars short of balancing its books for 2017.
CEO Andy Byford presented the numbers to Toronto’s budget committee at city hall on Monday.
Just how much the TTC is short is up for debate, according to Byford.
“It’s either 51 (million) if you take the city figure or around 71 (million) if you take our figure,” he said.
Mayor John Tory had asked every department to come up with a 2.6 per cent reduction in their budget, but the TTC has not met that target.
Byford said despite not hitting the target, he feels they have still done pretty well.
“We’ve got the budgetary pressure down for the TTC from an opening position of a scary $231-million,” he said. “We’ve got that down – if you take our figure – to a gap of $70-million post fare increase.”
The 10-cent fare hike, which comes into effect next year, will bring in about $28-million.
Byford said that if the city doesn’t fill the $20-million difference gap in the TTC budget, he may have to look at service cuts.
“My view would be that the only way you could then fund that difference would be through looking back at options with regard to service – and I don’t want to go there.”
