Facing a potential 6.5 per cent tax increase, City of Brampton staff have proposed a number of deep cuts and fee increases to offset a dramatic hike in the city’s portion of residents’ 2014 property bill.

While Monday’s proposal highlighted transit cuts, some councillors are targeting what they call Mayor Susan Fennell’s bloated budget.

“We are handcuffed,” said Councillor John Sprovieri. “She’s the mayor, she’s the leader. The mayor’s wage has to come down to coincide with mayors in other comparable cities. It doesn’t look good. It’s on people’s minds — when they hear we have to cut services, they’re thinking, ‘How about council cutting your own wages?’

“She’s totally lost me on this issue. Cutting services, especially bus services, people get hurt.”

Neither Fennell nor budget chair Gael Miles responded to a request for comment. Fennell’s spokesperson provided a statement saying that during the budget process, “Mayor Fennell is committed to working with residents, Council and Brampton staff to find savings, control spending and safeguard City services and initiatives to create jobs and attract investments to Brampton.”

Fennell was widely criticized earlier this year for being Canada’s highest paid mayor, in a city of only about 525,000. In 2012, she earned $213,727, including her pay for sitting on the Peel Region council. With benefits, the total came to $245,833, plus an extra $45,726 for her driver, $23,524 for her car allowance and $14,682 for sitting on the Peel Police Services Board. (Toronto Mayor Rob Ford earned $172,803 in the same year.)

“Her salary is ridiculous,” said Chris Bejnar, a spokesperson for the group Citizens For a Better Brampton. “If council wants belt tightening, shouldn’t it start with the mayor, the leader, who should set an example? We’re still waiting to see any benefits from her three trips to China, India and the Philippines (between December and April). These are extravagances, not to mention her driver.”

Robina Sood, a spokesperson for Chief Administrative Officer John Corbett, said maintaining the city’s current service levels for 2014 would cost the city an extra $22 million — the equivalent of a 6.5 per cent increase. “This is not acceptable to Brampton City Council.”

The city is also facing extra financial pressures related to its downtown redevelopment project and a five-year hospital levy that was incorporated into the 2013 budget.

The proposed transit cuts, which would eliminate $15.5 million from the budget, include reducing service on weekends and off-hours, delaying the installation of bus service in new developments, decreasing the frequency on certain routes, and a 25-cent fare hike.

Reduced recreational services and shutting a popular children’s petting zoo are also among the proposals, while every city department has been asked to find savings.

Several councillors told the Star it’s going to be hard to ask taxpayers to endure service cuts and fee increases while there’s a perception that politicians’ own budgets are bloated.

Councillor Grant Gibson has pushed to curtail councillors’ expense claims, “but I haven’t received enough support,” he said. “We shouldn’t have all the extra accounts to claim things like travelling to conferences. We should stick to our base amount — that’s it.”

Councillors (not including the mayor) each have a $60,000 primary expense account to be used over each four-year term. Fennell has no such limit.

Councillor John Sanderson agrees that an example has to be set from the top down, by all members of council.

“We also need to take a look at outside agencies we fund,” he said, mentioning organizations such as Brampton Safe City, the Brampton Concert Band, the Brampton Arts Council and the Brampton Downtown Development Corporation. Some of the executives at these city-funded agencies earn more than $100,000.

Councillor Elaine Moore agreed with Sanderson about possible cuts to the agencies and showing fiscal restraint at the council level. She has said the council’s compensation formula needs to be changed.

But she doesn’t support transit cuts.

“I don’t believe the cutbacks in service and enhancements to transit, along with an increase in transit fares, make any sense to our taxpayers.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

She says the city just invested more than $300 million in the new Zum bus system.

“We need to demonstrate leadership by first taking a look at our own spending.”

-

Some proposed cuts

Eliminate or reduce frequency of some transit services

Reduce recreational services

Reduce maintenance at corporate facility

Reduce corporate security services

Close Chinguacousy Park Zoo

Reduce Shakespeare In The Square

Reduce Service Brampton weekend service

Reduce support for not-for-profit organizations

Read more about: