Local 79's 2016 City Budget Guide – New and Enhanced Services that would likely be delivered by members of Local 79
In December 2015, the City Manager and Chief Financial Officer presented the staff-recommended 2016 City Budget. That’s the Budget that gets discussed, revised and approved by City Council.
This year, the City Manager refused to present a balanced budget. He simply told Councillors how much the current gap is between revenues and expenses (it is $127 million!) and left it up to them to decide how to close that gap.
The Mayor’s response has not been encouraging. Rather than use the revenues we need to pay for services – through reasonable property tax increases or the numerous other measures available to Council – the Mayor and his allies are continuing to talk about investing in physical infrastructure while cutting the services that build up Toronto’s social infrastructure. Those soft services are the ones that many of you deliver and that Toronto’s communities depend on. We cannot make progress on good jobs, poverty reduction, and better services without a sound revenue model.
On January 18, 2016, Budget Committee Chair Gary Crawford moved a motion on behalf of Mayor Tory. That motion sets out which services will be funded and which will disappear.
The Mayor and his allies plan to abandon a number of services that are vital to building strong communities.
Below, you’ll find the services that are particularly important to Local 79 because they would reduce poverty, promote strong communities, and/or create new opportunities for our members to deliver services to Toronto. New or enhanced services highlighted in red have been cut or abandoned by the Mayor and his allies.
Contact your Councillor now to ask them to support all the services Toronto’s communities need.
| Program | 2016 Net $ | 2016 Positions | Notes | Has the Mayor Supported or Abandoned? |
| PF&R – Youth Spaces Expansion (3) | $446,000 | 8 | Implement final 3 new Youth Spaces of 10 approved in 2014. Includes full-time rec staff. | Mostly abandoning. The Mayor only supports providing the program with $149,000 and 2.8 staff. About 1/3 of what is needed! |
| PF&R – Parks Ranger Program | $447,000 | 5 | Establish a Park Ranger Program as primary point of contact for people wanting to engage with the parks system. | Abandoned. The Mayor is not recommending any funds for this initiative. |
| ECS – 11 Inspectors Municipal Construction for easing traffic disruption (ECS) | $1,095,000 | 11 | Eleven seasonal Inspectors of Municipal Construction; required to accelerate construction to mitigate traffic impacts of construction | Supported |
| Office of the Treasurer – Support for the Social Procurement Initiative | $33,000 | 1 | Coordinator to ensure meaningful incorporation of social impact requirements on purchasing decisions. NOTE: 1 FTE has been eliminated in the base budget to offset the cost of this initiative. | Supported |
| PF&R – Family Day Recreation Centre Operations | $250,000 | 5 | Funding to open and offer recreation programs on Family Day 2016 at 88 community centres and aquatic locations spread across the City. | Supported |
| PF&R – Committee of Adjustment Review Enhancement | $292,000 | 4 | Increase the number of inspectors to enhance inspection rate for tree permits. | Abandoned. No funding for this initiative. |
| PF&R – Original Tree Canopy Goal Timelines | $1,664,000 | 21 | Return to the original tree canopy goal established by Council | Supported |
| TCHC / SSHA | $13,700,000 | 0 | Funding to implement recommendations from Task Force. | Mostly abandoned. The Mayor is only supporting about half of what was recommended by the task force he initiated. |
| SDFA – Youth Employment Toronto Program (YETs) | $633,000 | 6 | This funding would resurrect the YET program. | Supported! Local 79 has campaigned heavily for this valuable program to be re-instated. This is a piece of good news. |
| SDFA – Social Procurement | $33,000 | 1 | Cost-shared position with TESS, SDFA, EDC and SSHA to provide social procurement advice to PMMD. | Supported |
| TESS – Employment Program for Single Parents | $300,000 | Continue the program and pilot additional support initiatives. | Supported | |
| TPH – Decrease Gapping from 5.8% to 4.8% | $426,000 | Reduction of 1% for mandatory programs cost shared by the province. Improved hiring processes to reduce the time it takes to fill vacant positions. | Not supported. Public Health asked for more staff to provide services. The Mayor rejected their request. | |
| TPH – Day Nursery Immunization | $134,000 | 6 | Increase support for immunizations. | |
| TPH – Universal Influenza Immunization Pharmacy Inspection | $0 | 2 | 100% provincially funded positions for increased mandatory inspection of pharmacy fridges. | Supported |
Continue on to our section on Gapping —>
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