Councillors = challenging city manager=E2=80=99s budget cuts

Councillors=20 challenging city manager=E2=80=99s budget cuts

Councillors=20 challenging city manager=E2=80=99s budget cuts=20

=E2=80=98She=E2=80=99s = usurped our authority=E2=80=99:=20 Walker

September 5, 2007 12:55 = PM=20

Two Toronto=20 councillors are calling for a special meeting of council in light of a = legal=20 opinion that says city manager Shirley Hoy acted illegally in cutting = community=20 centre hours, snow removal and other city services without = council=E2=80=99s=20 approval.
=E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s unequivocal - she=E2=80=99s usurped = our authority,=E2=80=9D said Ward 22 (St.=20 Paul=E2=80=99s) Councillor Michael Walker, who along with Ward 16 = (Eglinton Lawrence)=20 Councillor Karen Stintz has put forward a notice of motion asking for a = special=20 meeting in the first week of October, to consider the cuts.
The two = are=20 basing the motion on a legal opinion that Walker sought from Gowling = Lafleur=20 Henderson, on whether the city manager has the power to selectively = amend the=20 city=E2=80=99s budget.
According to the opinion, the City of Toronto = Act 2006=20 specifically prohibits the city manager from taking such action without = specific=20 council approval.
The argument points to Section 22 of the = Act, which=20 prohibits council from delegating those decisions to anyone but itself.=20
In late July, Mayor David Miller asked Hoy to find cost = savings in the=20 2007 budget to be applied to the 2008 budget, in light of = council=E2=80=99s decision to=20 defer debate on two new taxes, on land transfers and vehicle=20 registration.
Hoy asked the boards governing police, the library and = the=20 Toronto Transit Commission to make cuts to services this year, and = identified=20 $34 million in direct city service cuts herself.
Those cuts include = the=20 closure of some community centres on Mondays, curtailing snow removal on = city=20 streets and delays in repairing all but the most dangerous = potholes.
Walker=20 maintains all those cuts are up to council, not the city manager, to=20 make.
=E2=80=9CThe budget is the most sacred responsibility we have = as council,=E2=80=9D said=20 Walker. =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s written into the legislation that we = manage the budget. We decide=20 on the programs and the funding for those programs. That=E2=80=99s = critical.=E2=80=9D
In the=20 opinion, lawyer David Tang argues that the mayor and city manager are = improperly=20 interpreting authorities given to the =E2=80=9Ccity=E2=80=9D as being = given to senior civil=20 servants. In fact, he argued, the legislation is referring to Toronto=20 Council.
Walker said he hopes that Toronto Council would vote to hold = the=20 special meeting in early October when it meets at the end of the month.=20 Alternatively, he said Miller could call such a meeting.
Speaking = with=20 reporters later Wednesday, Miller stood by the decision to allow Hoy to = make the=20 cuts.
=E2=80=9CShirley Hoy is acting within her authority - she will = be reporting to=20 the budget committee in September,=E2=80=9D said Miller. = =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s Shirley Hoy=E2=80=99s job to=20 manage the city. It=E2=80=99s not like the provincial and federal = governments here - you=20 can=E2=80=99t run deficits.=E2=80=9D
Miller said that the changes = that Hoy has made to the=20 city=E2=80=99s expenditures were carefully chosen so as not to have = contradicted any=20 specific council directive, and necessary to ensure that next = year=E2=80=99s budget is=20 balanced.