John Tory sees savings in contracting out more garbage collection
Mayor wants city staff to report back in January on ways to outsource east of Yonge St.

thestar.com
By David Rider and Betsy Powell
Nov. 21, 2016

City staff is once again going to examine whether Toronto should get out of the business of collecting garbage but Mayor John Tory says his mind is already made up.

Tory told reporters Monday morning at a news conference outside a Scarborough home that he intends to make good on his campaign promise to outsource garbage collection east of Yonge St.

“The city is saving millions of dollars contracting out garbage in the west end of the city. We need to get the same savings and level of service for residents in the rest of Toronto.”

Tory said he doesn’t need to wait for a January city staff report on whether the move will actually save money, despite a September 2015 staff report concluding there would be no cost savings with further privatization.

But Matt Figliano, executive vice-president for CUPE Local 416, told the public works committee Monday the mayor wants to fire “500 hard-working city employees” while overlooking the 2015 report’s finding that it is cheaper to use city employees to collect waste east of Yonge.

“This is not a debate about cost or what’s best for the city. This is an ideological debate,” he said.

The committee endorsed a request from Jim McKay, the general manager of solid waste, to update that 2015 report, and include looking at options for outsourcing and tendering.

Since that report was written, there is new data and metrics available and a new collective agreement with CUPE Local 416, committee chair Jaye Robinson said Monday.

The city is saving $11 million annually since it contracted out garbage pickup west of Yonge St. in 2012, “and that number continues to go up,” she said.

Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who is not on the committee, said he didn’t think another report was needed.

“Put it out to the private sector, ask them how much they’re prepared to collect garbage for, and they will tell you, and if we like the price we should go for it.”

He also told the committee he did not believe the 2015 staff report although it was peer-reviewed by consultancy firm Ernst & Young, which found the analysis to be “reasonable.”

Previous staff reports on outsourcing west of Yonge St., which happened in 2012, have either found no savings - which turned out not to be the case - or underestimated savings. “When we put the tender out, we were able to save $88 million over the life of the contract.”

Councillor Frances Nunziata said she doesn’t know “what some councillors are afraid of,” adding, “we owe it to the taxpayers of Toronto…to deliver services in a most efficient way.”

Councillor Stephen Holyday said he looks forward to telling his constituents that “we’re doing everything we can to manage the cost that will eventually trickle back to the users of the service, which are the homeowners that roll their bins out to the street.”

But Councillor Janet Davis, who does not sit on the committee, said the September 2015 report was clear, “the costs did not justify contracting out.”

She said the city of Toronto “is speaking out of both sides of its mouth. “On the one hand we say we believe in good jobs, decent pay...and yet when it comes to actually decent jobs, with decent benefits, for the people who work for us, it’s a different story.”

Jim Karygiannis, another visiting councillor, said the January report is a foregone conclusion. “I bet you dollars to donuts and you’re going to come back and you’re going to say ‘let’s private it,’” he said.

He warned that when the city no longer has any garbage trucks or workers, the private sector will “hold us hostage.”

Councillor Anthony Perruzza, who opposes privatization, lost a bid to push the report to the end of 2017.