This is a happy (mostly) day, as Toronto's 2012 budget was passed yesterday and excluded most of Mayor Rob Ford's proposed cuts!! Homeless shelters, TTC services, public daycares and swimming pools, among other things, were saved from the chopping block by an omnibus motion tabled by councillor Josh Colle. Read more in the article below.
http://www.thestar.com/news/cityhallpolitics/article/1116981--23-21-vote-undoes-many-of-mayor-rob-ford-s-budget-cuts
To me, this is a victory for common non-partisan politics due to the fact that members of the left, centre and right negotiated and together came up with a plan to save services and community programs that are essential to many Torontonians, especially in middle and lower-class neighbourhoods. In his first few months as mayor, Rob Ford thought it was going to be easy to sweep in and make disastrous cuts to many city departments and services. He didn't count on council and the public fighting back, though. As soon as people woke up and smelled that not every item on the gravy train was ready for the garbage bag, they turned against the bully and turned instead toward empathy and reason.
Council also voted on a 2.5 % property tax increase, which only adds another $60 dollars on the average home. 60 bucks for families is something, but the millions in extra revenues it will generate makes it well worth it. This money will make it easier for the city to fund some of the aforementioned programs in the long-term and is a good example how the community can chip in a little bit more for the greater good.
If it was a larger tax increase, I would have a problem with it, as it would be too much of a burden for lower-income households. But $60 should be manageable for most.
The budget wasn't perfect from my perspective. There was still small cuts to some programs and departments, including custodial staff. However, this was far from the doom and gloom that was sought by the cocky conservatives on council and today I am going to have a beer to celebrate the reasonable 2012 budget put forth by Toronto's City Council. And any time you can see Mr. Ford on the losing side of vote after vote, It's definitely time to shine up the ol' dancin' shoes and party like it's 1999!
It's also true that surplus money was used to save some services and I worry that next year Ford will try to induce the same cuts if that surplus shrinks. It is a fair concern, but I think that some of that money can be made up by the taxes that will be paid by people who benefit from those services. Daycares allow more people to work and pay taxes. The TTC allows people to take jobs in more locations around the city and income from those jobs is taxed. Libraries allow people to look for work for free on the internet and, you guessed it, people pay income taxes for those jobs. The rest of the difference can be made up through a cut to the mayor's food budget, which is especially timely because he has made a pledge to waddle off the weight. Just kidding about that last one!
What do you think of the 2012 budget that was just passed by city council?
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