It’s either layoffs or major tax increases: Ford

Ian Robertson,Toronto Sun First posted: Friday, August 12, 2011 
Toronto taxpayers are facing a 35% tax hike unless there are job cuts to the city’s workforce, Mayor Rob Ford warned Friday.  His administration can’t avoid penning pink slips if more staff does not start volunteering to take buyouts the mayor said on The Roundtable, with Sun News Network co-hosts Pat Bolland and Sue-Ann Levy, the Toronto Sun’s veteran city hall columnist.  “I don’t know if we have a choice,” Ford said, adding he is reluctant to take that hard road.  Ford said in July that the city could no longer afford to employ 53,000 workers and offered buyout packages to 17,000 unionized employees and managers.  Blaming “the previous administration” driven by council left-wingers with a “culture” of milking taxpayers to finance special interest programs, Ford said he wants to work with city worker unions and avoid axing staff. “Right now it’s a mess we have to clean up,” he said. “I want to work with the unions, but if they hold us hostage ... like they did two years ago with the garbage strike, I’m not going to stand for that,” Ford said, warning: “Don’t put a gun to our heads because that’s not going to work.” Ford has vowed to trim $380 million in spending to reduce the 2012 budget gap of $774 million, “and if we don’t do anything, we’re looking at 30-to-35% tax increases,” he said.

Taxpayers have repeatedly told him they want “a safe city,” which resulted in a contract settlement with Toronto Police that included a 2.8% wage hike retroactive to Jan. 1. The deal, reached in May, boosts officer and civilian salaries by a total of 11.5% over the next four years. Ford said workers such as grasscutters should not expect the same salary as a cop, Ford said. “It’s not the same job.” He said residents are also pressing for other essentials, including contracting out garbage pickup — which is predicted to save $6 million a year after District 2 west of Yonge St. goes that route — “fixing potholes” and plowing snow.  An analysis of that program will be undertaken to determine the next phase, contracting out private trash pickup east of Yonge, Ford said. He later said the city is examining cuts in other areas, including “should we own theatres? Should we own the zoo?”