Regardless of whether Mayor Rob Ford decides to step down — and we believe he must — we will continue to fight for fiscal conservatism at City Hall.

That’s why we backed Ford when he ran for mayor in 2010 and why we applaud the significant savings he achieved for taxpayers.

Ford did what no other megacity mayor before him — not David Miller and not Mel Lastman — could do.

Ford and his council allies negotiated four-year labour deals with the city’s inside and outside workers, without a garbage strike, while winning important concessions from the unions that will save taxpayers more than $100 million over five years.

Ford, and his council allies contracted out half the city’s garbage collection, which will save taxpayers almost $80 million over seven years — and which should be extended across the entire city as soon as possible.

Ford rescinded Miller’s hated $60 vehicle registration fee, a cynical tax grab that mimicked a similar provincial fee and gave the public absolutely no benefit in return.

Ford and his allies had the TTC declared an essential service, lowering the risk of future transit strikes.

Ford and his allies succeeded in slashing councillors’ office budgets by $900,000, and the mayor, leading by example, slashed his own office budget by $700,000.

Prior to Ford’s mayoralty, councillors’ budgets were being wasted on such outrageous nonsense as then-outgoing councillor Kyle Rae throwing himself a $12,000 retirement party on the public’s dime.

We share the view of Ford and his council allies that their job at City Hall is to deliver city services to taxpayers as efficiently as possible.

And that it is not, despite the attitude of Ford’s spendthrift opponents on the left, to operate City Hall as if it was an employment agency for city staff.

As a result, Ford’s administration was starting to get city spending under control, while delivering annual property tax hikes of 0% in 2011, 2.5% in 2012 and 2% in 2013, compared to annual tax hikes of 3% during the first three years of the Miller era.

Make no mistake. Ford’s enemies on council, beyond calling for him to resign, are going to use his personal troubles and controversies to try to discredit his agenda of fiscal conservatism.

But that agenda is exactly what Toronto needs and that we will continue to fight for at the Sun.

To be clear, Ford, through his personal conduct, has been the author of his own misfortune.

We do not support a chief magistrate, who, according to Toronto Police Chief Blair, is on a video the chief described as “disappointing” and consistent with earlier media reports of its contents. Those reports said the video showed Ford appearing to smoke crack cocaine and making racist and homophobic comments.

A video which Ford denied for months existed.

Ford needs to get his own life in order.

He is now a liability to his own agenda of fiscal conservatism, because the longer he stays in office, the more City Hall will become a circus, preoccupied with the mayor’s personal issues and credibility rather than with spending taxpayers’ money wisely.

No mayor is more important than the city he leads and Toronto cannot afford another year of drift until the 2014 municipal elections.

That’s why we will continue to support Ford’s fiscal agenda, even though we can no longer support the man.