From the Toronto Star, David Rider and Paul Moloney bring us this bit of eloquence from the mayor’s brother:
[Doug] Ford’s answer: Just wait. As soon as this budget is done, a top-to-bottom review of city spending will, with the help of outside experts, expose fat and services ripe for contracting out, he said.
“Yes, we should outsource everything we can,†said Ford, the mayor’s closest adviser.
via Doug Ford: Deep cuts coming in 2012 – thestar.com.
He also made yet another gravy reference but it’s way past time for media outlets to stop printing those.
I encourage people to take another look at this chart. For all the bluster about savings from contracting out garbage, few point out that it’s a damn rate-supported service. Any contracting out in that area will result in minimal impact on property taxes. All it would do is maybe lower the annual fee for garbage bins by a little bit.
To make a big difference, the city would need to make big cuts or find ways to contract out services in one or more of the following areas: Police Services, TTC, Fire Services, Support & Housing or Parks & Recreation. Of those, Parks & Rec is the only one I could see the potential for real movement on. (They’re working on it.)