posted August 20, 2007

BUDGET HOUSECLEANING

Mayor David Miller lost the first round of his attempt to gain some more taxes for the city by charging drivers and new house buyers extra. He may win the next try – after all, cities are legally required to balance their budget, and right now the 2007 municipal budget is over half a billion dollars too high. City Council will have to do something. What’s more, Toronto’s debt (from capital expenditures) is about to hit 2 billion. So it’s no wonder that when City Council refused to order the new tax now, the Mayor asked City staff to help out by reducing City operating expenses by $100 million.

He can ask, but can the City management deliver? It’s tough. In the case of Parks, Forestry and Recreation, they’ll have to reduce their almost-$300 million operating budget by at least $5 million this year. How can that be done? There’s a hiring freeze now, but just paying the existing staff rises by $9 million a year because of negotiated pay increases and cost of living adjustments. These pay increases for permanent workers and management have hit Parks, Forestry and Recreation even harder because over 400 staff positions were added in the past four years, bringing the total staff positions to over 4000. And just hiring more staff doesn’t seem to help get the work done: new trees still don’t get watered, picnic tables and benches rot for want of paint. Meantime, formerly free programs have escalating user fees, which still fall far short of covering the operating costs. It’s a puzzle that will have to be solved soon.