Councillors share thoughts on budget process

torontosun.com
Jan. 11, 2016
By Maryam Shah

Councillor Justin Di Ciano pauses carefully before sharing his thoughts on the city’s budget process so far.

“Slow and methodical,” he says at first, insisting the city must be “way smarter” in spending.

With years of private sector experience under his belt, the Ward 5 (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) councillor has a lot of criticisms about the way the city spends money. He wants more information, more analysis.

“We have no idea how effective each dollar we put into the system is, and it’s as bad as I’ve ever seen it coming from the private sector in the last 15 years,” Di Ciano says. “So simply just asking for more money, without knowing whether or not or how much of that money is actually going to the services, is a very troubling aspect for me.”

The Toronto Sun checked in with three councillors who sat in on Monday’s budget committee meeting:

Councillor Frances Nunziata, Ward 11 (York South-Weston)

What matters is spending money on visible results, she says.

“Most residents want to see the value for their dollar and what they see on the streets every day is what they want done,” adds Nunziata.

This period is essentially the calm before the storm - the debate that will break out once the budget hits the floor of city council next month.

“That’s going to be a lot of fun. You’ve got 45 people asking questions at that time,” she says.

 Councillor Mike Layton, Ward 19 (Trinity-Spadina)

Let’s finally talk revenue tools, Layton says.

“I think people are starting to realize that if we want to improve services, we’ve got to pay for them.”

If the current city council wants to fulfil any new promises, imposing a new vehicle registration tax - a levy killed by city council in December 2010 - is not a bad idea.

“We need money to pay for stuff,” Layton stresses. “You can’t just say you’re going to find it in savings.”

Doing that last term “failed miserably.”

Councillor Shelley Carroll, Ward 33 (Don Valley East)

There’s barely anything to trim, according to Carroll, who supports looking at imposing new taxes or fees.

“In fact, even the auditor general, whose job is to do value-for-money audits, is here asking for $1 million more in staff expenses,” she says. “That’s how trim we are.”

And those participating in public consultations aren’t going to suggest any cuts.

“No one phones my office ever and says, ‘A city truck drove by and did a thing on the street, now I want ’em to stop doing it.’ No one says that,” Carroll points out.