More than 50 resident associations representing neighbourhoods from York Mills to CityPlace are demanding council double the number of staff in councillors’ offices after the number of wards were cut to 25.

The letter, dated Nov. 20, follows Premier Doug Ford’s unprecedented move to shrink the size of council ahead of the Oct. 22 election. Each councillor is now responsible for an average of 110,000 residents — in some cases more than doubling the previous ward size.

“How councillors can effectively shoulder this increased constituency load alone is unclear,” reads the letter from the named associations, including the Annex Residents’ Association, Harbord Village Residents’ Association and the umbrella group representing North Toronto neighbourhoods.

“What is clear is that without the allocation of additional resources, they will be unable to maintain the level of representation they currently provide, and which constituents have quite rightly come to expect.”

Councillors’ staff, the letter explains, are often the first point of contact for constituents — already fielding hundreds of phone calls and emails daily.

At minimum the letter requests the number of staff in each office be doubled.

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“It is imperative that the result of the change to the city’s governance model not result in an erosion of representation or a deterioration in the overall effectiveness in the governance of the city,” the letter says.

Councillor Mike Layton, whose new University-Rosedale ward contains a significant amount of pending development, said there is need to look at a significant increase in staffing for those who require it.

“I think there’s general agreement (among councillors and their staff) that more staff is required,” Layton said. “The volume of the development, the number of community projects, the number of meetings and evening events — no one can keep up with it.”

Tory, speaking to reporters earlier this week, said councillors would need to have the per capita funding, meaning their individual budgets would increase because of the higher number of residents per ward.

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But he has not specifically said if he’ll support a larger staffing complement for his colleagues.

Council will debate interim measures to deal with the change to the ward sizes at a meeting Dec. 5.