Rob Ford is claiming to have found $50 million in gravy, but his critics say the mayor is playing politics and is doing no work to ensure his proposed cuts have a chance at passing.

“If the mayor actually wants to garner support for any of his motions, I think an earnest person who really wants to see a motion passed would speak with their colleagues and try to convince them,” said centrist Councillor Josh Matlow.

So far, the mayor has refused to say where these cuts might come from, only that they would have “little impact to services.” At last week’s executive committee meeting, Ford dropped some hints, grilling city staff about outstanding parking ticket and library fines, community grants funding as well as staffing levels, especially in the 311 department.

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Said Councillor Josh Colle, “I suspect they’ll be motions that he doesn’t necessary expect to win on” or that don’t actually produce the “the promised savings” if put under scrutiny, which no one has been able to do because of Ford’s silence.

It all but ensures none of his motions will pass, Matlow said.

“To simply spring a $50 million budget cut on council without any opportunity to understand what the repercussions of those actions might be, how services would be impacted, it just doesn’t seem like a sincere move on his part,” he said.

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Ford defended his strategy, saying most members of city council “stabbed me in the back” and aren’t going to support him regardless.

“Why pick and choose a few councillors and let them know what’s going on. It’s better that all the councillors know. Why sit here and talk to the budget chief, and talk to the heads of the committees or the executive?” Ford replied. “You know and I know it’s not going to go anywhere. I’ve done it for 14 years. They’ll laugh at me.”

Wednesday’s council meeting is shaping up to be a bitter dog fight, despite the fact that most of the budget is not contentious. The toughest issue will be the property tax increase.

Last week, the executive committee approved a 1.75 per cent hike, including the 0.5 per cent subway needed for the Scarborough subway. But Ford has framed it as a 2.23 per cent increase.

It’s a complicated issue. Every year, there is a 0.5 per cent mandatory hike related to property values and tax shift policy. In previous years, when councils debated an increase, they have left this mandatory figure out of the discussion, says Roberto Rossini, Toronto’s chief financial officer. The number quoted in the media almost never includes that 0.5 per cent addition.

For example, Rossini explains, “last year the budget was a 2 per cent increase on the residential property tax. The final property tax increase was 2.5 per cent because we had another 0.5 added on for the CVA and tax policy shift.”

At the executive committee, Councillor David Shiner accused the mayor of being disingenuous by purposely touting a larger figure.

Shiner is responsible for the other thorny issue that will be debated. At executive, he moved a motion to take a less conservative estimate of land transfer tax revenues, in order to keep property taxes low.

Both Rossini and Ford said this was “irresponsible.” But Shiner defended the move, saying that, year after year, city staff have consistently overbilled taxpayers by being overly cautious.

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Ford will probably use the meeting more as a platform to test re-election campaign soundbites, many of which he used at the Monday press conference.

“It’s been just two months since city council undemocratically stripped my legislative powers, and we’re already seeing the results,” Ford said. “Folks, without Rob Ford in charge, it doesn’t take long to return to the tax-and-spend ways of the past.”

Matlow says he believes Toronto residents see through the mayor’s games.

“I think there’s a mythology about how pervasive his dishonest rhetoric actually is to the average Torontonian,” Matlow said. “I’m no longer worried about what he says any more. I think he’s a clown and I think he acts as a clown.”