ronnie993tt

If Rob Ford gets the vehicle reg. tax killed and holds the property tax increase to 0 versus the 8% Miller was threatening, there's about $600 bucks in the Porsche instead of city coffers.....

porsche0nut

StanThePorscheFan

Thats great, but don't be surprised if next time you go to a public library or swiming pool, its closed. That $60 a year we've been paying brought $64.000.000 (that's right Sixty Four Million Dollars) to our city. With absolutely no plan how to replace this money, it is guaranteed we will be paying for it in other ways. Trifold!

theiceman

But that's just it though .. you keep paying an they keep finding ways to **** it away ... as long as you keep paying they don't have to be responsible. I like to see this aproach because it makes people think long and hard about descisions now.

StanThePorscheFan

Don't get me wrong, I wish they cut this out a few months ago, when I paid for three cars for two years ahead.
But I am a businessman, and I like calculated risks. Before I'd cut any money coming in, I'd cut money going out first. I think in the corporate world its called restructuring.
Problem is, this is politics. Corporate world rules don't apply to these people. There will always be politicians who will try to stop the gravy train. The reality is - it will never stop. Why? Because everyone has a price. I bet Ford's is less than you think. I bet people who back him are going "We are going to ride this one all the way. And he won't even notice."

JimV8

I expect that a search of City spending might reveal a few $$ of savings. Short story. Several years ago I found the Toronto Board of Ed was paying 1.5 m on glass replacement. I assumed this was because there were alot of broken windows and I investigated. What I found was an amazingly efficient self contained department of dedicated glaziers ready to respond to the first report of a broken window. When I went to the schools I found there were very few incidences of broken windows.

If put to the open market the actual cost, at overtime and minimum callout rates, would have been less than a quarter of the 1.5.

PPo

Jim... that is certainly an eye opening story...

I would support a mayor who would take a serious look at the operating efficiencies of the city, and implement SOME improvements. In the past 7 years, my overall payout to the city keeps increasing, but the service offerings and quality of the service is consistently reduced. Not sure if Rob Ford is the guy to fix this, but I certainly hope he makes progress...

StanThePorscheFan

Ha. Someone got a juicy kickback for that contract, for sure.

pongobaz

+1. I think this will be short term gain followed by long-term pain. I was never a fan of Miller (couldn't stand him actually), but I don't think that Ford is going to be any good either. This city has a long history of electing complete buffoons to the highest municipal office.

ronnie993tt

There's lots of room to cut taxes and expand sevices by cutting grants, which is 1/3 of the budget alone. Then there's eliminating the rip-off fair wage policy, contracting out garbage which we are paying 2x what Ottawa and Etobicoke are paying and privatizing/P3ing all the major services. Even a lot of the menial police services could be contracted out. There is no need for an $85K constable to do stuff a $45K a year private cop can handle.....There's lots more but this gives you an idea......

Jaak Lepson

Neighbour does contract work for the City of Toronto and on many times he has herd councilors say it`s House money; in other words it`s not taxpayers ... it`s theirs. How cam the budget go from $6 Billion in 2006 to $9 Billion in 2009,10 .... one needs to look at the spending.

The vehicle tax never went to the roads as it was supposed to ... Birthday is on Jan 4th ... no more tax!!!! This was done via McSquinty & Miller-Lite ...

PPo

It is easy to select a buffoon if your choice is between a buffoon that looks like Tommy Boy's dad, a buffoon who had a provincial scandle underneath him, and a buffoon wearing pants. I am not that negative about the latest candidates, but what I am saying is that the selection is very slim. Not sure any choice would be radically different in the end...

There are many people who I would vote for as Mayor, but they all have a similar response when I ask them to consider running, in a casual conversation. Why would they take the pay cut, work longer hours, and also be put under the scruitny of the public eye?

IMHO, the position isn't rewarding enough to attract the kind of candidates that I would consider putting my full support behind...