Opponents and critics of mayoral race frontrunner Coun. Rob Ford are saying he can't cut the city’s costs as deeply as he suggests without hurting services, but Ford is brushing off their claims.

"It's not complicated. We have to stop spending more than we take in," Ford said Friday in releasing the second part of his plan to reduce the cost of governing Toronto.

Here are some of his targets:

reducing spending by $525 million in 2011

reducing spending by $3 billion over four years

achieving a budget surplus of $1.7 billion by 2014

When that latter target is achieved, Ford's administration will use the money to improve services, build up reserves and pay down debt.

Throughout this process, "I assure you services will not be cut. I will guarantee it," he said.

One way he plans to cut costs is by contracting out some service tasks such as garbage collection and cleaning police stations.

Ford also said he would sell up to $1 billion in city assets to offset reductions to the capital budget and make further debt repayments.

The savings would be spent on campaign priorities, he said.

He has budgeted $416 million of the $1.7 billion surplus to be spent on:

improving childcare services

services for seniors

affordable housing

making the city more accessible for people with disabilities

Another $416 million would go toward rebuilding a financial cushion for the city. The remaining $833 million would go to paying down the city's debt load.

Ford's impact statement outlines where the penny-pinching candidate intends to cut costs. He estimates nearly $3 million can be saved each year by reducing councillors' expense accounts, staff budgets and the budget allotted to the mayor's office. He has pledged to cut the size of city council in half, although he would need the province’s co-operation.

But the real savings will come from reducing the costs of current city services, in part through policy changes.

An annual $80 million will be saved by eliminating the Fair Wage Policy, which ensures the city deals with contractors who give their employees wages and work hours similar to unionized labour.

Nearly $300 million will come from staff reductions and assumed improvements to government efficiency.

For the full details of Ford's financial impact statement, visit: http://www.scribd.com/robfordcampaign.

Reaction

Carol Wilding, president of the Toronto Board of Trade, issued a statement saying that while Ford's plan is ambitious, it raised some questions.

"Mr. Ford’s plans for tax relief combined with new program costs and deep cost savings means he has further to go to ensure balanced budgets in fiscal 2011 and beyond," she said.

"He must find significantly more in savings than the projected 2011 budget shortfall of $503 million. However, it is fair to ask if the savings assumptions in Mr. Ford’s plan can be realized in time for the 2011 budget."

Hugh MacKenzie, an economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy alternatives, said Ford can't make those types of spending reductions without reducing services.

Many city staff provide essential services and their positions cannot be eliminated through attrition, he said.

Contracting out isn't a cure-all for reducing a service's cost, he said.

"The city has actually brought back in-house some of the contracted-out services … precisely because it cost too much," he said.

Opposing candidates George Smitherman and Rocco Rossi accused Ford of reneging on his promise to eliminate the land transfer tax.

"Now he's saying, 'Whoops, it's going to take until the second year to eliminate the land transfer tax," Rossi told reporters. "Quite frankly, his numbers don't add up."

Smitherman said Ford is overestimating how much money the city could take in from the sale of assets and "isn't telling anybody where he's going to get savings from."

Joe Pantalone said Ford would "really earn the name 'Ford the Destroyer'" if he went ahead with his promised spending and revenue reductions.

Rossi and Smitherman have previously released their fiscal plans. Pantalone has indicated his plan is coming late next week.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness