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What $34 million in cuts gets T.O.

Rating: NNNNN


Fewer rec services:

Monday closure of 129 community centres until the end of the year ice rinks opening in January instead of December.

No Sunday library hours at 16 branches:

That smarts. Say bye-bye, too, to the Teen Fine Forgiveness program for overdue materials.

Dirtier streets and sidewalks:

Cancellation of planned door-to-door garbage pickup at townhouses.

Less green:

Reduced maintenance in parks, reduced residential tree planting program and delayed implementation of the green roof initiative.

Longer lineups:

Fewer staff working tax, water and parking tag counters. Longer shutdowns of information technology services supporting frontline staff.

More landlords running roughshod over tenants:

Fewer bylaw enforcement officers to respond to residents’ complaints and conduct building inspections.

Skewed priorities:

The cash-soaked cops have committed to cutting a mere $3 million to address the budget shortfall, while the cash-strapped TTC will absorb $6 million in cuts.

And that’s only the half of it

Another $49 million in service cuts are needed to keep the overall budget shortfall at $575 million in 2008. And there’s very little wiggle room – 75 per cent of T.O.’s total budget is used to pay for provincially mandated programs, transit and emergency services.

The bottom-line crime

Toronto is the only large city on the continent that continues to rely on property taxes to pay for services.

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