Speak Out Against the Budget! Join the Stop the Cuts ‘Budget Breakfast’

It’s time once again to speak out against the Toronto City Budget. The 2013 budget has massive cuts to services the people of Toronto desperately need. City Council votes on the budget on Tuesday, January 15th. Join us as we fight to Stop the Cuts for 2013.

How to get involved:

1. Contact your local councilor demanding that they vote against any cuts in the 2013 budget. Demand more services, not less. (Find your councilor here: http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp)
2. Talk to friends, family, co-workers and neighbours about the cuts. Distribute the Stop the Cuts Budget flyer: http://tinyurl.com/STCbudget2013
3. Join us for the Stop the Cuts Budget Breakfast on January 15th. We will be at City Hall to voice our opposition before council votes.

Key Issues in this Budget

Ideology over Common Sense
• Service and staffing cuts from last year have not and will not be reversed. The loss of revenue from cutting the Vehicle Registration Tax and freezing property taxes in 2011 leaves a lingering hole in the budget that is used as an excuse to cut services.
• Property taxes are once again only being raised by under 2% instead of the 3% needed to match inflation. Corporations continue to get handouts as their property taxes are being raised by less than 1%. A 3% increase would cost the average homeowner only $80-$90/year. The cost of not increasing taxes is massive cuts to services we all need.
• The City is again refusing to use last year’s surplus to balance next year’s books. This is another justification for cuts. Using surplus is a common budget practice - not the recklessness that Ford claims it is.
• Budgets that were cut by 10% last year are frozen for this year. Including inflation and growth in the city, most departments are down 16% or more. Less funding means fewer services.

Proposed Cuts and Fee Hikes
• Shelter, support and housing is being attacked when we already have a housing crisis in this city. Due to federal, provincial cuts there is a cut of $72 million from last year’s budget. City Council should be fighting these cuts on behalf of Torontonians. Instead they are adding their own cuts through the elimination of the Personal Needs Allowance, slashing the budget for TCHC repairs, rent subsidies and reducing the number of shelter bed nights by a whopping 41,172
• We already face another TTC fare hike while service levels remain grossly inadequate
• Dialysis patients are going to lose Wheeltrans access
• The Global AIDS Initiative is being axed
• Cuts to the Fire Department that put everyone’s safety at risk
• Police, who actually got a budget increase last year, are only being asked to freeze their $1 billion budget.