Tory bringing David Miller era back to City Hall
torontosun.com
Dec. 15, 2015
By Sue-Ann Levy
I knew we were in deep trouble when we walked into Tuesday’s city budget meeting and were presented with 124 pages of charts and numbers, none of them actually stating the total proposed 2016 budget.
I had to ask for that missing information a few hours later, as if it was a deep dark secret, and add the numbers provided myself - the operating budget, the solid waste and water budgets that were taken off the property tax 10 years ago (to make it seem smaller), and the proposed capital budget.
The total 2016 budget, all in, is $14.8 billion, up $600 million or 4% from 2015’s $14.2 billion.
To add to this most surreal exercise were the flippant and rather obnoxious comments from chief financial officer Rob Rossini about how lucky they are to have the Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) - the cash cow they are counting on to bring in $527 million this year. “Yeah ... I like it,” he said.
And then there was new city manager Peter Wallace, who along with his minions seemed to think that they’d provided the “most accurate information...stripped of artifice.”
“We present this with some pride,” he said, noting the small gap of a $57.4-million operating deficit they’ve left hanging there like a bad dream.
There was already one glaring problem: Wallace and Rossini, for all their talk of their “clean” set of numbers, left out the other $75 million in requests for budget increases, including the targeted investments budget chief Gary Crawford said they “fully intend to continue,” like the poverty reduction strategy ($6.5 million) and the $19 million in increases approved by TTC commissioners. There’s also that $13.7 million the Toronto Community Housing Corporation brass think they should get for putting in place the measures proposed by the Art Eggleton Task Force.
I knew we were in even deeper trouble when after 124 pages of charts, numbers, graphs and excuses, there was no property tax increase proposed at all. Wallace told councillors it was up to them to decide how to get rid of the $57.4 million - in reality how to deal with the entire $132.4 million when one includes the wish list - something akin to throwing red meat into a ring and letting the lions all scramble for the scraps.
If there was ever a recipe for disaster, this is it.
As Wallace and Rossini wrung their hands and spoke the same B.S. I’ve heard for years about exacting efficiencies from the organization - a grand total of $22 million, according to their own charts, while staff is to increase by 454 bodies and there was even talk of raising the debt ceiling beyond the council-mandated 15% - I took myself back to the David Miller days.
Those days, which I’d hoped were far behind us, included runaway spending and dangerously high levels of debt, an inability to say no to special interests and pet projects, virtually no attention to efficiencies, and budgets constantly presented with deficit holes (as if Miller could whine and the extra money would appear as if by magic).
But now John Tory is mayor and sadly, I see the same trends. But it’s worse because council and the bureaucrats know he’s a soft touch - and can’t say no to anyone.
Some fiscal conservative. Some fine mess.
It’s everything I was afraid of about Tory, and more.
THE 2016 BUDGET BAFFLEGAB
Chief financial officer Robert Rossini:
WHAT HE SAID
“There was a buoyant condo market last year...I’m a happy man...I get more money (from the Municipal Land Transfer Tax).”
THE LEVY TRANSLATION
“Thank goodness the real estate bubble hasn’t burst...Otherwise, where would I find the money for all of your crazy pet projects?”
WHAT HE SAID
“We’ve done a number of things to balance the budget...We’ve done efficiency studies and core service reviews in 2011.”
THE LEVY TRANSLATION
“If I say it in a really, really serious tone of voice, will anybody remember that we parked those efficiency studies and reviews on a dusty shelf somewhere?”
WHAT HE SAID
“Here’s our Stairway to Heaven (referring to pressures on the 2016 operating budget).
THE LEVY TRANSLATION
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions...let’s face it folks, we just can’t stop spending.”
City manager Peter Wallace:
WHAT HE SAID
“I’m telling you this in a policy neutral context...this is not advice.”
THE LEVY TRANSLATION
“Folks, we’ve done our part. Surely you don’t expect bureaucrats making $300Gs, or more in my case, to balance the books. You’re on your own councillors.”
WHAT HE SAID
“We’ve baked (all the budget figures we can) and have provided council with the most accurate information we can provide stripped of artifice.”
THE LEVY TRANSLATION
“We’ve moved the shells around again this year and I challenge each and every councillor to figure out what the heck we’re talking about.”
Budget chief Gary Crawford:
WHAT HE SAID
“We need to be disciplined and live within our means ... but we fully intend to continue with targeted investments to transit, poverty reduction and even our commitment to the arts.”
THE LEVY TRANSLATION
“Ha, Ha! Fooled you ... we have no intention of living within our means. Don’t you know, our mayor, John Tory, just can’t say no.”
