Budget chief Councillor Mike Del Grande reacts to the first batch of votes on core service budget cuts.

Council has rejected several budget cuts endorsed last week by Mayor Rob Ford.

Ford had already rejected or deferred numerous unpopular cuts in an attempt to appease squeamish councillors on his executive committee. But council refused on Tuesday to approve all of the cuts Ford had kept on the table.

Council voted 24-21 against the elimination of community environment days. It voted 23-22 against the elimination of the public realm improvement program, which fixes up forgotten or neglected corners of the city such as traffic islands, boulevards and subway entrances.

Council voted 40-5 to see if Heritage Toronto can operate city museums with low attendance rather than having museums quickly closed. And it voted 23-22 to see if the High Park Zoo and Toronto Island Park, which includes another petting zoo, can be operated as conservancies rather than potentially handed over to a private operator.

I predict Ford will like that the city will look at selling off its three theatres; selling or privatizing the zoo; eliminating the Christmas bureau; eliminating the need for paid-duty police officers at construction sites; increasing the timeframe to reach the city's tree canopy goals, make the Yonge-Dundas Square operator more self-sufficient; and reducing neighbourhood development activities.

Council also voted 25-20, against Ford's wishes, against the hypothetical future privatization of the profitable Toronto Parking Authority.

Two of Ford’s allies, executive committee member Councillor Jaye Robinson and right-leaning Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby, voted against the mayor on several of the close votes. Lindsay Luby put forth the motion opposing the privatization of the Toronto Parking Authority.

Council voted 44-1 to stop requiring paid duty police officers at construction sites. And it did endorse some cuts, voting 25-20 to eliminate the Christmas Bureau, 34-11 to stop distributing four free garbage tags, 24-21 to seek the sale of the city’s three theatres, 24-21 to consider eliminating horticultural initiatives at parks.

Council was considering only $28 million in cuts at the meeting — a mere fraction of a budget shortfall Mayor Rob Ford says is $774 million and that the city’s top bureaucrat said last week was between $500 million and $600 million.

Councillors’ unwillingness to support deep cuts means much of the gap will likely be filled using the proceeds from user fee increases, staff buyouts and layoffs, a property tax hike, internal efficiency improvements, and various sources of revenue.

Council received one piece of good revenue news in a report released Monday: The land transfer tax brought in about $50 million more than expected in the first eight months of 2011. Left-leaning councillors seized on the windfall as proof the city’s fiscal state is less dire than Ford argues.

Councillor Mike Del Grande, the conservative budget chief, criticized anti-cuts council foes in the last speech before the Tuesday votes. “No solutions, no alternatives — it’s ‘no,’” Del Grande said.

Council voted unanimously to work with the Riverdale Farm Coalition to find a way by next year to continue operating the farm. It rejected proposals to exempt daycares and nursing homes from possible future privatization. It also rejected a proposal to exempt the library system from any kind of future cuts.

Ford’s executive previously rejected cuts to community grants, windrow-clearing, grass-cutting in parks, and late-night TTC bus service.



- Daniel Dale





