Burying Hogtown in a pile of debt

Burying Hogtown in a pile of debt
Money to fix roads or maintain city buildings can't be found, but Mayor David Miller is still adding staff, no wonder we're ...
By SUE-ANN LEVY

Let's get one thing perfectly clear.

When Mayor David Miller states he should now be considered CEO of this city under the new City of Toronto Act -- as he suggested recently to defend his proposed $6.2-million-plus office expansion -- I make no argument.

I have to disagree with his interpretation of CEO however.

Only a Chief Emperor (and) Overlord -- or one who behaves as such -- would dare plan such an outrageous expansion of his offices for more staff and meeting space even as the city is forced to raise new debt of $350 million in this year's $1.4-billion capital budget to keep the assets afloat.

And just barely. The city is so cash-strapped that only $5 million has been allocated -- pared down from the originally planned $30 million -- to clear a $301-million road repairs backlog.

There's another $167-million backlog in "essential" repairs to the city's 270 corporate buildings -- civic centres and so on. Only $14-million has been set aside to deal with that this year. At that rate the backlog won't be cleared until 2018.

If the city's buildings last that long. Bruce Bowes, chief corporate officer, said the buildings are "in reasonably good shape." Still he conceded that if maintenance is delayed on leaky roofs, for example, the roof not only needs to be replaced but the delay "leads to other issues."

By the end of last year, some 10.5% of every tax dollar was being used to service the debt. Projections are that the city will be carrying a $2.3-billion debt by the end of this year.

A true chief executive officer would be concerned first and foremost with the city's bottom line, crumbling infrastructure and how the escalating debt might impact on Toronto's credit rating.

He or she wouldn't be looking to the senior levels of government for some unrealistic bailout. A true CEO would be getting his or her house in order first.

But not Toronto's CEO.

It seems Miller thinks he's so darn important that he needs more office space to house four or five new staff members (bringing his office complement up to 23), a pretty new media studio to engage in new photo ops a la his hero Robert Kennedy, and more meeting rooms to hobnob with his adoring fans (mostly unionized workers I dare say).

Miller's executive assistant Bruce Scott said the new staffers will include two policy people -- one working on the climate change file and another on economic development. He says the budget for that, over and above the $6.2-million, hasn't yet been finalized.

'SHARPEN HIS PENCIL'

Bowes said the initial plan to add more space and consolidate the mayor's staff in one area -- now called Option A -- will force five councillors to be displaced to another part of the second floor and the clerk's staff to one of the towers.

He noted last Monday (after the mayor's plan was "outed" in the press) Miller asked him to go back, "sharpen his pencil" and look at other, less expensive, less disruptive options. The new, improved plan will be unveiled to Miller tomorrow.

Bowes said they still intend -- whatever option is selected -- to add two more committee rooms to the second floor to increase the meeting space. The socialist party line is that more civic engagement is expected.

That's a crock.

Ask any number of councillors and they'll say how closely Miller's office guards information and controls the agenda. For the second month in a row, the standing committee meeting agendas have been suspiciously light and public deputations few and far between.

Coun. David Shiner, one of those councillors who could be displaced under Option A, calls the renovation plan "absolutely ridiculous."

"If he was CEO, he should be very concerned about the financial situation of this corporation," he said. "This ship is going to be sailing into an iceberg pretty soon and it's going to sink."

Cesar Palacio, another councillor slated to be moved, said he was disappointed but "not surprised."

I can find 6.2 million reasons to say we have other priorities, he said, pointing to the sprucing up of Nathan Phillips Square and Union Station among other things. "It doesn't make sense ... this is not a priority."