DIRTIER STREETS - LESS SERVICES (Tax Cuts!)

go_fish · Senior Member

RE: DIRTIER STREETS - LESS SERVICES (Tax Cuts!)

go_fish · Senior Member

the way I see it, too many of those who get into politics do it, aside from their vocation for civil service etc etc etc, also with the purpose of accomplishing something.

Say, the ability to vote on raising your own f@cking salary.

Guess where their priorities are.

When one has to wait for a pastor-turned-politician to be among the very few active MPPs to denounce the salary raise AND donate it to charities, it tells you that those who have made a career out of politics don't see that, anymore, as the right thing to do. And what kind of salaries are we talking about there!

BTW, and if my memory serves me well, it takes more than 10 million dollars / year to run the office of Ach Miller. I wonder if there are gonna be any cuts to THAT. (fresh donoughts and coffe 4, rather than 5, times a day?)

-- Edited by go_fish at 18:15, 2007-08-10

LGigolo · Comandante

AXE FALLS AT CITY HALL

83 Million in spending cuts announced

By ZEN RURYK, Sun Media

( http://www.torontosun.com/News/2007/08/10/4408542.html )

Dirtier streets, more potholes, snow removal reductions and a flurry of other municipal service cuts await Toronto residents after fiscal measures announced at City Hall Friday.

Mayor David Miller and his senior bureaucrats unveiled a slate of cuts that will save $83 million next year. When $9 million worth of cuts from the TTC and police are thrown in, the city will bank savings of $43 million for the remainder of 2007.

Miller said the cuts were necessary after city council last month put off making a decision until October on whether to impose an unpopular land transfer tax and a new vehicle registration fee.

"Its time for people to understand that you either pay for the quality of life in the city that you want or you get a different quality of life", Miller said.

The cuts include:

Community centres will be closed on Mondays. Programming that takes place on Mondays will be cancelled.

The scheduled opening of Torontos outdoor artificial ice rinks will be delayed from December to January.

Temporary workers who pick up litter will be let go two weeks early.

The scheduled December yard waste pickup has been cancelled.

Plans to introduce curbside garbage pickup at townhouses has been trashed.

There will be fewer pothole repairs.

There will be less street cleaning.

City plows will only clear sidewalks and driveway bottoms when a minimum of 15 cm of snow falls instead of the usual 8 cm.

Sixteen libraries will close on Sundays.

Areas that receive automated leaf pick up will only receive the service once this fall instead of twice

There will be delays when people call for bylaw inspectors to deal with graffiti

People will have to endure wait times of up to 20 minutes when they want to speak to a court services worker about a parking ticket

The bicycle paramedic program in the Entertainment District will be reduced from four days to two days a week

_____________________

"Its time for people to understand that you either pay for the quality of life in the city that you want or you get a different quality of life"

AND WE PAY THIS PUT0 to run our city? C'mon - don't we hear daily about lots of overpaid (6 figure salaries) government workers running our city? How about the overpaid workers getting a little salary cut instead? Or maybe cutting down their own spending habbits (i.e.: replace computers every 4 years instead of 3, reducing management's amount of dollars allocated for work related personal expenses, etc)

I want services that my taxes have always been paying for to remain the same. I like my city to be clean and want kids to have access to recreational facilities such as the swimming pool, skating rink, etc!)

-- Edited by LGigolo at 16:21, 2007-08-10