Toronto’s proposed budget lacks funding for many things council has already approved

Thestar.com
Feb. 6, 2019
Jennifer Pagliaro

Every year, members of council are tasked with approving a balanced operating budget.

It’s not unlike what you might do at home -- first looking at how much your household will earn in a given year and considering any other income that might be coming your way, and then going through how much you’ll need for day-to-day expenses each month.

The city’s 2019 budget proposal leaves out a plan to increase the number of hours libraries are open across the city, including this York Woods branch in the Jane and Finch area.

It’s a lot like that, except with $13.46 billion, give or take, to work with.

This balancing exercise creates a series of very important choices for council -- including what to leave out of the budget in a city of many needs. In some case the city could even choose not to fund programs it has already promised it would.

The Star looked for those programs, services and strategies that are currently unfunded or not fully funded in the 2019 budget. This list, while not comprehensive, comes from looking through initial budget documents, listening to city staff presentations and speaking to those working at city hall.

The list offers a look at the choices council still has ahead of them. The budget on the table today is staff’s first attempt at balancing -- the beginning of a process that must still wind its way through budget committee, consultations with the public, Mayor John Tory’s executive committee and finally council in March. Items can be added or removed, as can funding sources. Council has the final say at a meeting March 7.

“Its important to keep in mind that we are just at the beginning of the 2019 budget process and the budget committee’s review of the staff recommendations,” said Tory’s spokesperson Don Peat in a statement when presented with this list. “Despite a tough budget year, the staff-recommended budget preserves and invests in city services, like the TTC, Toronto Police and Toronto Public Library, while keeping the property tax increase at the rate of inflation.”

Child care

What was approved: Match 20 per cent of the child-care funding provided by the federal and provincial governments

What is proposed for 2019: Stretch the city’s 20 per cent contribution over five years

Cost to fully fund in 2019: $14.95 million

In 2017, council approved a child-care growth strategy which committed to increasing the number of children served by both city-run and community-based daycares and reducing fees for parents.

That cost, council agreed, should be largely borne by the provincial and federal governments, with the council committing the city to contribute 20 per cent of whatever is provided by the other governments. In 2017 and 2018, the federal and provincial governments contributed a total $84.8 million, city staff reported -- putting council on the hook for nearly $17 million.

However, the city contribution has been spread out over five years, between 2017 and 2022, meaning funding to increase subsidies for low-income parents and money for centres to boost wages and reduce fees for all families would be stretched out over a longer period. Using the phased approach, in 2019 the city would spend $3.74 million, funding 210 subsidies.

If the city’s 20 per cent contribution was fully realized, it would create 760 new fee subsidies instead of the planned 210, city staff told budget committee this week. The current wait list for subsidies, staff told budget committee, is around 11,800.

Staff say the city’s contribution is being phased in to ensure that as subsidies are added, there is physical space available for care.

Library hours

What was approved: Increasing library hours across the city as part of a four-year plan

What is proposed for 2019: Nothing

Cost to fully fund in 2019: $3.35 million

Since 2006, Toronto Public Library officials have planned to increase the hours at branches across the city as part of a comprehensive strategy. Though several service improvements have been made and new branches opened, the Open Hours plan has never been fully realized.

After the city’s budget committee asked in 2017 what funds were necessary to fully implement Open Hours, a revised plan was approved by the library board in 2018 at a cost of $18.26 million over four years starting in 2019.

The cost of funding the plan in 2019 is $3.35 million and would add weekly hours at 24 branches, Sunday hours at 26 branches and late evening hours at four branches as well as two research and reference libraries.

But library staff, in a 2019 budget note, say the first phase of the plan is currently not funded “due to fiscal challenges” and will be deferred for consideration next year.

City-run recreation

What was approved: 25,000 new spaces

What is proposed for 2019: 7,500 new spaces

Cost to fully fund in 2019: Unclear

In 2017, council approved a plan to increase the number of city-run recreation spaces by 60,000 as the number of wait-listed spaces grew to more than 198,000 -- representing more than 62,000 people.

During the 2018 budget process, council decided to double the number of spaces added in the first year, from 10,000 to 20,000, which staff reported would bring the total number of new spaces to 70,000 by the end of 2020.

That three-year plan called for 25,000 new spaces to be funded in 2019.

But this year’s proposed budget only includes funding for 7,500 new spaces -- 17,500 fewer than the 25,000 called for in the original plan. And staff now say the original three-year plan will be stretched over five years.

When questioned about this by the Star, city staff in the parks, forestry and recreation division said they have been misrepresenting the plan to council, saying the commitment from council was only ever to 60,000 spaces, not 70,000 as reported multiple times by staff, and that approving 20,000 in 2018 simply fast-tracked the plan.

However, even at 60,000 spaces, the 2019 budget plan would still leave the city with 7,500 fewer spaces than council originally approved in 2017.

The cost of adding the 7,500 spaces is $417,000 in 2019, staff reported. In 2018, the plan to add 25,000 spaces was estimated to cost $769,300. Staff say there have been increases in costs is due to the specialized programs and need to rent third-party facilities for the spaces to be added in 2019.

“Implementing 20,000 spaces in 2018 rather than 10,000 was challenging, especially in finding available space and ensuring adequate staffing,” a city spokesperson said in an email. “Current projections and a recommendation for 7,500 additional spaces in 2019 represents the most achievable approach to growing access to recreation over the coming year.”

Climate change action

What was approved: A series of short-term strategies to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, and direction for staff to come up with a business plan

What is proposed for 2019: Revised 2019 funding of the plan at $5.44 million

Cost to fully fund in 2019: $7.83 million

In 2016, council approved a comprehensive plan called Transform TO to act on climate change, with a list of specific short-term actions to be taken between 2017 and 2020. They asked staff to return with a business plan on how to fund those strategies.

A budget briefing note from staff in 2017 outlined the funding required, totalling $23.77 million over four years and $7.83 million in 2019.

But at council’s request, staff reorganized the plan based on a “priority” scoring in 2018, despite advocates saying that prioritization had been built into the original strategy. Staff presented a revised budget that involved staggering the hiring of staff to do the work approved. They recalculated the cost of the four-year short-term strategy at $15.47 million with a total budget of $5.44 million in 2019 -- $2.39 million less than the original plan. That funding is in the 2019 budget.

The plan to hire 10 new staff in April 2019 has also now been reduced to hiring just five staff in July 2019 with the other five hires deferred to 2020, staff reported to the budget committee this week.

Senior staff told budget committee Wednesday, “There’s no doubt that with less budget our ability to produce the results is less,” but could not say specifically what impact it would have on being able to achieve the goals of Transform TO in the timelines set out.

Discounted transit

What was approved: A discounted TTC plan for low-income Torontonians, phased in and gradually expanded over three years

What is proposed for 2019: Extending eligibility to fewer people than planned

Cost to fully fund in 2019: $4.4 million

The Fair Pass discount plan was approved by council in 2016 and was first available in 2018 for Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works clients. The plan for phase two in 2019 was to extend eligibility to those receiving housing supports and child-care supports.

But the 2019 budget only accounts for including those who receive child-care subsidies, not those with housing supports at a cost of $2.37 million. The original plan, reported by staff, estimated phase two would cost $4.4 million.

Staff reported that those receiving housing supports were not included as part of phase two because of “logistical difficulties” in “identifying and verifying eligible residents.” Those receiving housing supports are still planned to be included as eligible in the third phase in 2020.

Ravine cleanup

What was approved: Development of a strategy to maintain city’s 4,000-hectare ravine system

What is proposed for 2019: Nothing

Cost to fully fund in 2019: $655,400

In 2017, council asked staff come up with a way to deal with the litter in ravine parkland. Though staff have developed a pilot project, the new service was not included in the staff-recommended budget for 2019 “due to fiscal challenges,” a budget note says.

Drop-in services

What was approved: Enhance the health and safety standards of the Out of the Cold program

What is proposed for 2019: Base funding continued from 2018

Cost to fully fund in 2019: $360,000

Additional funding to allow those administering drop-in services to “respond to the emerging needs of their most vulnerable clients, such as access to harm reduction, drug treatment and eviction prevention services” is not included in the 2019 budget. Base funding of $500,000 to improve health and safety standards at the drop-ins is included.