Couple of notes from the budget meetings today. The first is the entirely unsurprising news that the mayor’s first budget, in addition to being bigger than last year’s budget, will also grow the city’s workforce.
And now we learn that the budget committee has voted to deny the request of Toronto ombudsman Fiona Crean — who operates independently — to add two staff to her office.
The funniest part is councillor Peter Milczyn’s rationale as to why extra staff in the ombudsman’s office is unnecessary. Here’s The Globe & Mail’s Anna Mehler Paperny:
Several councillors, including Peter Milczyn, who put forward the motion that passed at committee by a show of hands on Monday, said beefing up the ombudsman’s office is unnecessary because the city plans to improve its customer service record anyway.
via City ombudsman’s request for more staff turned down – The Globe and Mail.
Brilliant.