Nothing Has Or Will ChangeAt Our Reichstag

No spending diet at City Hall

By SUE-ANN LEVY

I arrived back at Socialist City Hall yesterday -- after a two-week hiatus in the sunny south -- thinking our councillors might resolve to put themselves on a spending diet in 2008.

Perhaps it was the sun that caused my flight of fancy but I actually thought -- mistakenly of course -- they might want to lead by example during the fiscal crisis, by agreeing to a wage freeze.

Silly me. As the recent debacle over their lavish $53,100 expense accounts has shown, these porkers are not about to let tough times eat away at their pay and perk package -- in the slightest.

Ivana Zanardo, the city's director of pension, payroll and employee benefits, confirmed yesterday Mayor David Miller and his crew of 44 councillors will get a cost of living increase -- still to be determined within the next two weeks based on the Consumer Price Index posted for December, and retroactive to Jan. 1.

Given that inflation was running at around 2.5% in Toronto this past November, I'm betting the hike won't be far off that amount.

That would bring a councillor's pay to around $97,375, on top of their $53,100 expense accounts and the $200,000 they get to hire staff.

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Vaughan won't give up on tax Staff recommends against sidewalk levy, councillor fights on

By SUE-ANN LEVY

A long-awaited -- and surprisingly reasonable report given the heavy-handed socialist climate at City Hall -- recommends that a new tax not be imposed on those city bar and nightclubs which regularly use public sidewalks for queuing.

Instead, the report, which is on the agenda of Friday's licensing and standards committee, proposes rules to control crowds outside an entertainment establishment be added to the licensing bylaw already in place (Chapter 545).

The series of six regulations spell out -- among other things -- how wide and deep the lineups can be, on which sidewalks they can be formed (those which would still allow a clear passageway of five feet or wider) and the number of security guards required to control the lineups (one per 100 patrons).

The report -- requested by council six months ago largely to deal with the out-of-control weekend crowds at select venues in the Entertainment District -- suggests this option is a far better bet than a separate "cumbersome" permitting scheme.

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