* Freeze on hiring
* Contracting out
* Harmonization of services & reduction in staff
* Reduction in Councilors office budget
City Hall budget a whopping $1.4B
Expect property tax increases as debt climbs by $380M
By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
David Miller's digs will get a face-lift worth $2.9M. The project will give Miller space for four new employees. (Stan Behal, Sun Media)
Toronto councillors okayed a controversial $2.9-million renovation of City Hall and cleared the way for the start of construction of a police training centre in southern Etobicoke.
City council voted 32-10 yesterday to approve a $1.4-billion capital budget that earmarks $717 million -- 51% of the total -- for the TTC.
The city's debt will rise by $380 million this year -- from $2.25 billion to $2.63 billion. As a result, taxpayers will have to cough up an additional $69 million to make principal and interest payments on the city's debt.
Mayor David Miller insisted that the city needs sustainable transit funding from the senior levels for government.
"That's the driver of all the financing in the City of Toronto -- the need to pay for public transit," said the civic leader.
Funded mainly by debt and cash from the senior levels of government, the city's capital budget is used to finance major civic projects and vehicle purchases. Councillors will set the city's operating a budget, which is almost certain to contain a property tax increase, next month.
This year's capital budget includes funding needed to replace 220 buses and to expand the TTC's fleet by another 100 of the vehicles.
It also includes a $103-million payment for 234 new subway cars which will start arriving in 2010.
With the financially gluttonous TTC gobbling up so much cash, the city faces a $1.1-billion backlog of work on roads, arenas, civic buildings and other municipal holdings.
Forecasts from the finance department show the backlog of work will increase substantially by 2011 -- to about $1.4 billion.
"This is a short-sighted budget," complained Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong. "It's a budget that will ensure that the city gets into a deeper and deeper hole -- and continues to crumble and fall apart."
Finance officials say the current $305-million backlog of road work will jump to $414 million in 2011. The backlog of work on arenas and other parks department holdings will jump from its current $200 million to about $330 million by 2011.
One of the hot-button issues in the budget was a $2.9-million renovation of City Hall that expands Miller's office and creates a committee room and media studio.
Critics have condemned the project, saying it should be scrapped given the large backlog of work on city holdings.
The project will give Miller space for four new employees in his second-floor City Hall office. In defending the need to enlarge his office, Miller noted his deputy communications director, Stuart Green, sits at a desk in a room that was once used as a closet.
He also noted the new City of Toronto Act, which kicked in at the start of the year, requires him to perform additional duties.
DEBT-BOUND
The city is sinking deeper into debt. The following estimates prepared by Toronto's finance department show how the city's debt will grow and the cost of carrying such a debt:
DEBT
2006 -- $2.25 billion; 2007-- $2.63 billion; 2008 -- $2.7 billion; 2009 -- $2.85 billion; 2010 -- $3.05 billion; 2011 -- $3.12 billion
DEBT CHARGES
(Interest and principal payments)
2006 -- $333 million; 2007 -- $402 million ($69 million increase over 2006); 2008 -- $434 million ($101 million over 2006); 2009 -- $470 million ($137 million over 2006); 2010 --$509 million ($176 million over 2006); 2011-- $537 million ($204 million higher than 2006)
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