This week, City Council’s Budget Committee will look at how well the City is keeping to the 2016 Operating Budget. Local 79 always keeps a close eye on budget reports because they directly impact our members’ work and the services we deliver to Toronto’s communities. This report shows that vacancies and gapping continue to increase.
In fact, 11 Divisions have vacancies over 10%! No wonder members are telling us they don’t have enough time in the day to manage their workloads. The effects of years of cuts are starting to show: higher costs to maintain aging vehicles, higher-than-budgeted costs for consultants and counting on quick-fixes to hold everything together.
Budget pressures are only going to get worse. As our workloads hit an all-time high, the Mayor and his allies are going to push through a 2.6% across-the-board cut, along with further contracting out and service cuts. Next week’s budget update is only one piece of a massive budget fight.