Toronto Has Problems. No One Is Denying That.....

.....and much of the criticism of Comrade Miller and the Politburo is their inability or unwillingness to show some fiscal restraint before they go begging for $$$$ from the province or the the feds. And this footnote to Comrade Miller:

It is not the citizen's of Toronto that got us in this fiscal mess but rather the elected officials and bureaucrats that we pay to run the city efficiently and effectively but whose priorities seem to be governed by special interest groups.

Toronto's struggle a group effort By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN Toronto Mayor David Miller visited the Sun editorial board last week and to say there was a meeting of minds would be an overstatement. First, Miller told us the city is $576 million in the red even before it starts budgeting for next year, including $250 million just to maintain services and $285 million to replenish badly-depleted reserves. Then, days later, with no debate, the city's economic development committee voted to deplete those reserves by another $1.2 million bailing out a money-losing theatre company. Sigh! City Manager Shirley Hoy then took us on a guided tour of city finances. She noted, accurately, that when the city consulted the public about what to do at four public meetings in May, respondents "were overwhelmingly against the imposition of new taxes," objected to the way they were being rammed through in the summer, didn't believe they were necessary, feared the money would be wasted and told council to operate more efficiently by controlling costs. Then we learned what the city plans to do with all this consultation. Let's just say we can't describe it in a family newspaper, particularly on a Sunday. Suffice it to say council later this month is expected to approve a new land transfer tax on homes to take effect Jan. 1, which will rake in $300 million a year, plus a new $60 per vehicle registration fee for another $56 million. What else might be coming in future? Who knows? Finally, Miller is too ideologically committed to the city's powerful unions to even think about exposing them to private sector competition in order to find the best and most efficient deals for taxpayers. Despite all this, some things Miller is right about. First, more say in public transit. As it is, the senior levels of government have gone from underfunding it to throwing a billion dollars at a subway to nowhere -- hello York-Vaughan line! Apparently, this was done in part so Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara can boast he delivered a subway to his riding in the Oct. 10 provincial election. For Toronto, it's the wrong transit project in the wrong place at the wrong time. But we're stuck with it as long as the city has to approach Ottawa and Queen's Park begging for transit cash like Oliver Twist. Then there's provincial downloading, the absurdity of using property taxes to pay for welfare and social programs, instead of what they're supposed to pay for -- roads, sewers, transit, police, fire, ambulance, parks. But that won't change until Queen's Park has an epiphany (both Conservatives and Liberals) which is unlikely to happen any time soon. All of which means the fiscal mess Toronto's in isn't just Miller's fault. This was a group effort.