Day two of city’s public budget deputations

TORONTO, Ont. – It was day two of back-to-back days of public hearings into the 2012 budget at City Hall, Thursday.

With the committee barely making a dent in the speakers list on Wednesday, was highly unlikely everyone on the list would be heard.

“Our community centre, my area is going to suffer because of it, and it’s the only one that we have,” said Melinda, one of the 248 people left to speak before the session wraps up Thursday evening.

One heated discussion even called for a time-out, as those concerned about transit, communities and day care became extremely passionate and tempers began to flare. An angry woman was subsequently removed from the room.

Among the many people in attendance included the president of the Toronto Professional Firefighters Association, who had a warning about some of the proposed cuts.

“The city would have its citizens believe that a few more seconds won’t make a difference, but firefighters know that in our business, seconds can mean the difference between life and death,” said Ed Kennedy.

Impassioned pleas were heard over the proposed 2012 budget cuts, Wednesday — 340 people were signed up to speak, but only around 100 deputations were heard.

The plan was to limit each speaker to three minutes, but councillors kept their deputations alive by putting their own questions to those who spoke.

Among the voices heard Wednesday were those who worried that cutting 10 per cent from student nutrition programs would leave hundreds of children hungry — those who rely on the schools for breakfast.

The mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, stunned the meeting when he stepped up to offer a $1,000 personal gift to cover the potential loss at a high school in his Etobicoke ward.

Bringing back the vehicle registration tax and increasing property taxes were recurring themes during the proceeding. The city gave up $64-million a year in revenue when it cancelled the vehicle tax.

Janet Walters of Toronto’s first post office museum said losing the city funding of about $27,000 means the museum would likely close.

“Or we’d become a fancy post office but is it worth it? I mean, we’d have to dispose of the collection,” Walters said. “The repercussions are huge.”

Frank Horvat with Lakeshore Arts also pleaded to keep his group’s grant.

“Art needs to be recognized as one of the pillars that contribute to building healthy, safe and liveable cities,” he said. “Keep the house standing, strengthen the foundation.”

The Birchmount Seniors Shelter could be closed. people who live there range in age from 60 to 90 and many are disabled.

“If you want to look at cuts, don’t look at us,” David Smith said. He has lived at Birchmount for almost two years. “We are senior citizens. We’ve done our time, we’ve paid our taxes.”

Bellwoods House is one of the shelters proposed to close. A neighbourhood resident chose to give the women who live there a voice since most have fled domestic abuse.

“Some may be back on the street, they definitely can’t go back to their homes or their families,” she said.

The Toronto Real Estate Board is pressing the city to scrap the land transfer tax immediately and boost residential property taxes, saying Torontonians have one of the lowest rates in the GTA.

Mark Ferguson with the Outside Workers Union, CUPE local 416, said that contrary to what the mayor has been claiming, the city does not have a spending problem.

“Since amalgamation, the accumulative fact of tax freezes has cost the city of Toronto over $2.9-billion in revenues,” Ferguson said.

Budget chief Mike Del Grande said the session will end at 9:30 p.m., even if all those who have signed up to speak haven’t made it to the front of the line.

“Anybody else that’s here that’s in line will have to provide written documentation to the committee. So we’re not doing the 24-hour marathon,” Del Grande said.

The budget goes before council for approval in January. Click here for more information on the budget.