Posts Tagged ‘The Growing Chasm’

BIG IDEA: Jackpot?

  • Posted on: April 16, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

Who: Giorgio Mammoliti

His idea: A Toronto lottery

GUEST BLOG: Bring accountability to the City’s budget process

  • Posted on: April 13, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

 

By Councillor Brian Ashton

Seeing Toronto City Hall from the outside is like Alice in Wonderland: it just gets curiouser and curiouser. And this is never more true than when it comes to the City’s budget process, which comes to a close this week when City Council casts its final vote on the 2010 operating budget.

BIG IDEA: A casino on the waterfront, says Mammoliti

  • Posted on: March 24, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

 

Who: Giorgio Mammoliti

His idea: Build a casino in Toronto to help solve our budget problems

By now it’s clear that Toronto has a bad case of the financial woes. But mayoral candidate and current City Councillor for Ward 7 York West, Giorgio Mammoliti, has an idea that can turn people’s pupils to $$ signs: a casino on Toronto’s waterfront. 

63 More Ways to Tame the City’s Budget

  • Posted on: March 10, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

On Wednesday morning Mayor David Miller announced that the City has found an additional $100 million surplus, bringing the 2009 surplus to $350 million – money which will be used to balance the city’s budget in 2010 and 2011. That’s one way to balance a budget: use last year’s surplus to plug the coming year’s hole. But it’s not the only way.

The Toronto Board of Trade surveyed 11 North American cities to find out how their municipal governments balanced their budgets. The Board’s new research report Taming the (municipal budget) beast, being released today exclusively on VoteToronto2010.com, highlights the budget challenges they faced and the diverse solutions they pursued.

(UPDATED: 5:05 p.m.) Miller announces smaller tax hikes, two-year budget forecast

  • Posted on: March 10, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

In a highly-publicized press conference at City Hall this morning, Mayor David Miller announced that the city would reduce the previously-announced tax increases of 4% for residents and 1.3% for business to 2.9% for residents and less than 1% for business. 

The change is the result of a higher-than-expected fiscal surplus from last year. Mayor Miller said that the surplus, initially announced at $250 million – which was already an unprecedented figure – is now expected to be total some $350 million. 

Mayor Miller also announced that the city will provide a two-year budget plan for 2010 and 2011. The Toronto Board of Trade, in its budget deputation last week, called upon the City (as it has in previous years) to adopt a multi-year operating budget process. 

The Board called today’s surprise additional $100 million surplus “a troubling statement about management of the City’s finances” in a press release this afternoon. 

Last month, the Board of Trade conducted its own ten-year forecast of the City’s operating budget, The Growing Chasm, which showed that the City’s structural deficit, if left unaddressed, could grow to $1.2 billion by 2019. 

Rocco Rossi: Getting Toronto back on track starts with getting our fiscal house in order

  • Posted on: March 03, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

Speaking to a sold-out luncheon audience at the Toronto Board of Trade, mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi delivered his second major speech of the campaign outlining more of his platform and giving the audience insight into what a “Rossi Administration” would look like.

Toronto’s 2010 operating budget: see for yourself

  • Posted on: February 17, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

A combination of tax hikes, new user fees, cost reductions – and no small dose of good luck – the City of Toronto has managed to propose a balanced budget for 2010. But politicians and bureaucrats alike warned that the books only balance thanks to $313 million worth of one-time revenues, and that without new sources of funding, the city’s structural deficit will be back to haunt the budget for years to come.

City budget issues take centre stage next week

  • Posted on: February 12, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

This website will be observing the Family Day holiday. When we come back on Tuesday, the first item of business will be the City of Toronto’s 2010 draft budget, slated for release at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. VoteToronto2010.com will be blogging on the budget.

Our campaign will also host a series of roundtable events on how to fix the city’s finances. Board members and prospective members are invited to have their say and challenge the status quo with fresh, unique and bold ideas. These events will be held over three days in February and March.

Topics could include:

  • Cutting services
  • Selling public assets
  • Raising property tax
  • Propose your own solution

The Town Hall Discussion Series is part of the Toronto Board of Trade’s VoteToronto2010.com campaign. For dates, locations and more information about these events see our event flyer.

You can download “The Growing Chasm” here.

Forecast shows Toronto’s structural deficit could exceed $1 billion by decade’s end

  • Posted on: February 09, 2010
  • Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

The City of Toronto is saddled with a structural deficit in its operating budget which, if left unaddressed, could grow to $1.19 billion by 2019, according to budget projections released today on VoteToronto2010.com by the Toronto Board of Trade.

The Board’s research report, entitled The Growing Chasm: An Analysis and Forecast of the City of Toronto’s Finances, uses historical data from 2002 onwards, as well as known commitments for the years ahead (including the uploading of social services costs), to arrive at its projected shortfall.