December 6 – Budget Committee Continues with Fire, TTC and More
Posted on 07. Dec, 2011 by Beth.
December 6 – Budget Committee Continues with Fire, TTC and More
Watch Tuesday’s Budget Committee meeting here
Today’s meeting included the review of Citizen Centred Services ‘B’ (City Planning, Waterfront Revitalization Initiative, Fire Services, Policy, Planning, Finance and Administration, Toronto Environmental Office, Municipal Licensing and Standards, Technical Services, Toronto Building and Transportation Services), Toronto Transit Commission, Toronto Zoo, Exhibition Place, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Toronto Atmospheric Fund, Sony Centre, St. Lawrence Centre, and Toronto Centre for the Arts. All of the Citizen Centred Services ‘B’ budgets were dealt with in one go, starting with a staff presentation for this cluster. The agencies were reviewed in clusters as described below.
Highlights from Citizen Centred Services ‘B’:
- There are $39 million in cuts to the Citizen Centred Services ‘B’ budgets
- The budget includes 1.25 million savings by reducing pay duty officers for traffic control
- Councillor Vaughan mentions that the City is currently hiring from 4 graffiti abatement managers at $100,000 salary each
- Sidewalk snow clearing is being eliminated except for some provision for seniors; this affects the inner suburbs as the service is generally not provided in the downtown – a total of 6,000 km of sidewalks are currently cleared
- Mechanical leaf collection is also being eliminated affecting mostly Etobicoke residents and some Scarborough residents
- Animators positions are being eliminated who promote environmental programs
- Councillor Davis asked about what jobs are proposed for contracting out in this cluster – mostly in transportation, street sweeping, snow and ice removal, road maintenance, grass cutting, sidewalk snow clearing and dispatch, road repairs in Etobicoke
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December 6 – Mapping the Cuts
Posted on 06. Dec, 2011 by Beth.
Mapping the Cuts
As the map below reveals, the proposed cuts to the community in the 2012 City budget are disproportionately located in low income neighbourhoods, where specific sites are known. Of the 75 location-specific cuts, 42 are located in low income neighbourhoods or 56%. Forty-five percent of Toronto neighbourhoods have poverty rates above 24.5% – the poverty rate for the Toronto population.
These location-specific cuts in no way represent all of the service cuts that have been proposed. For example, TTC bus routes while location-based are not mapped and have a substantial impact on already inadequate service in the inner suburbs. Cuts to student nutrition and community grants will have city-wide and neighbourhood- and community-specific impacts that are not yet clear as particular programs slated for cuts have not been identified.
Map updated December 7, 2011. Check regularly for updates as new information becomes available.
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December 5 – Budget Committee Dispenses with Staff Presentations, Whips through Budget Reviews
Posted on 06. Dec, 2011 by Beth.
Budget Committee Dispenses with Staff Presentations, Whips through Budget Reviews
Watch Monday’s Budget Committee meeting here
Today, the Budget Committee reviewed 11 divisional budgets, 6 agency budgets, including the Toronto Public Health and Toronto Public Library budgets, and the community grants budget in the space of less than eight hours. As a result of this process, budgets did not receive the more in-depth examination that was possible in the past.
In past years, staff from each division and agency would make presentations for each individual budget, and then Councillors would have an opportunity to question staff on each respective budget. This year, the Budget Committee elected to dispense with full presentations from staff, encouraging staff to provide only brief highlights.
As well, budgets were reviewed in clusters. For example, the committee reviewed all 11 ‘citizen centred services A’ budgets, the Association of Community Centres (AOCC) budget and the Community Partnership and Investment Program (CPIP; community grants) budget as one group. After Deputy City Manager Brenda Patterson made brief remarks about this cluster of budgets, City Councillors took part in three rounds of questions to staff to cover all 13 individual budgets. In my experience, this is a significant departure from past practice where time is allocated to investigate each individual budget.
Although the AOCC and CPIP budgets were supposed to be included in this cluster, staff made no comments regarding these programs and Councillors asked no questions relating to these programs. By afternoon, it became clear that many Councillors did not realize that the AOCC and CPIP budgets had been reviewed in the morning. The committee did elect to include discussion of these two budgets in the afternoon.
Cluster 1: Affordable Housing Office, Children’s Services, Court Services, Economic Development and Culture, Emergency Medical Services, Long Term Care Homes Services, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration, Toronto Employment and Social Services, 311 Toronto, Community Partnership and Investment Program, and Association of Community Centres
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December 4 – Proposal to Cut the Police Civilian Workforce and More
Posted on 04. Dec, 2011 by Beth.
A Few Additional Updates from Friday’s Budget Committee Meeting
Requests for briefing notes:
Requested by Councillor Mihevc: Requesting briefing note to be provided by Dec 9/13 Budget Committee wrap-up meetings on staffing levels in the access and equity unit and trends in staffing in that unit over last decade. Moved by Councillor Del Grande. Carried.
Requested by Councillor Mihevc: Requesting confidential briefing note to be provided by Dec 9/13 wrap-up meetings on all areas being contracted out including divisions and number of employees. Moved by Councillor Del Grande. Carried.
Motions tabled or requested (won’t be voted on until the Budget Committee wrap-up meetings; wrap-up dates are December 9, 13):
Note: Any motions that increase or decrease one part of the budget must have an offset (identify where the money will come from (or go to) to keep the budget balanced).
Moved by Councillor Milczyn: That the 2012 Toronto Police Service budget be reduced by 4.2913 million through cuts to the civilian staff complement. (This is the amount of the increase in the Toronto Police Service net budget (funded by property tax base) that is currently proposed. So he’s proposing no net increase. There was no debate on the motion as it won’t be voted on until the wrap-up meetings.)
Request by Councillor Perks: Reverse the proposed cut of one Senior Corporate Policy and Management Consultant in the City Manager’s Office by taking the money from the Mayor’s Office budget. (This request will be considered at the Budget Committee wrap-up meetings. To be voted on, someone from the Budget Committee will have to move the motion.)
Moved by Councillor Parker: That the accountability offices be supplied with P cards, TTC cards, Green P parking cards. (To be voted on at wrap-up.)
List of Service Cuts
We’re keeping a list of all of the service cuts proposed and will be updating it regularly. You can find it here
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December 2 – Budget Committee Gets Rolling with Police, Accountability Offices, Internal Services and More
Posted on 04. Dec, 2011 by Beth.
Budget Committee Gets Rolling
Who’s on the Budget Committee? Councillors Del Grande (chair), Berardinetti, Di Giorgio, Ford (vice-chair), Lee, Milczyn, Parker.
Several additional Councillors attended and participated in the Budget Committee meeting.
All members of City Council can ask questions of staff and make statements at Budget Committee. Budget Committee members can move motions to request briefing notes (reports prepared by staff that provide additional information about individual budgets). These requests are voted on by members of the Budget Committee. Councillors who are not on Budget Committee can also request briefing notes. However these motions must be moved by a Budget Committee member. Again each of these requests is voted on by the committee. Councillors who are not on Budget Committee do not have a vote at Budget Committee. All City Council members review and vote on the final budgets at the Council meeting on January 17-19.
Watch Friday’s Budget Committee meeting here
Police and Parking Tag Enforcement
The Budget Committee met on Friday to begin the review of individual budgets starting with Toronto Police Service, Toronto Police Service Board (TPSB) and Parking Tag Enforcement and Operations. Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair and TPSB Chair Dr. Alok Mukherjee joined senior police staff to present these operating and capital budgets.
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