I Am Supported By The CMHC/Riversides In The Downspout Debacle

And as I pointed out doing the work if a low skill job although some artists might find it difficult and/or dangerous........

Big spending on easy job
The StarTheStar.com - comment - Big spending on easy job

November 22, 2007

Disconnecting a downspout from a municipal sewer system and installing an extension pipe is one of the easiest – and cheapest – renovations that a homeowner can undertake. Yet it costs the city of Toronto an astonishing $1,300 to get that done at an average property.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., other municipalities give homeowners a subsidy to accomplish this work, with $100 being a "high-end" payout covering labour and materials.

And labour costs can be avoided. Anyone with a modicum of skill can cut a drainpipe, add an elbow and an extension line, diverting water away from a house, and then close the sewer pipe with a plug or cap. Necessary materials are available at most hardware stores. RiverSides, a Toronto non-profit group dedicated to protecting water resources, estimates such a project costs less than $25 per downspout.

The city's outrageously high cost includes the price of inspections and paperwork as well as this contracted-out work. For whatever reason, when Toronto spends $1,300 on such simple jobs it cannot help but sap people's confidence in the value of public services. Taxpayers have every right to wonder what other savings are being missed.