[URBAN NOTE] "John Tory’s Impending Impasse Over TTC Budget Cuts"

[rfmcdonald]

Torontoist's David Hains notes the real limits of John Tory's rhetoric on TTC funding.

At Council’s meeting in July, a lot of attention was paid to the approval for the $3.2-billion one-stop Scarborough subway extension.

But it overshadowed another motion that will have a big impact on transit as Council faces that immutable truth so politically convenient to ignore: things cost money.

The transit agency faces a $231-million budget gap to maintain service levels for 2017, the result of rising costs and Council passing a motion demanding a 2.6 per cent budget cut for every City division and agency. A draft letter by TTC management says they can’t make up that amount without “unpalatable” service cuts according to the Toronto Star, and can only get one-third of the way through belt tightening, a 10-cent fare increase, a draw from reserves, money shuffling, and the typical budget dance.

John Tory wants the full $231 million without service cuts, or he says the City may have to hire consultants who will do it. And thus we are at an impasse.

If all of this sounds familiar, it should. The Rob Ford administration was predicated on the notion that there were vast amounts of waste to be found in government, if only Toronto had the right person to find and get rid of it. Now, Tory promises the same.