La suggestion du Toronto Star au maire Miller est aussi valide pour Montréal. Avant de réclamer plus de revenue, le maire Tremblay devrait démontrer qu’il n’est pas possible de faire plus avec moins.
EDITORIAL
Let expert panel find fat at city hall
TheStar.com , Sep 15, 2007 04:30 AM
When facing a hard choice between new taxes and deep service cuts, many Torontonians insist on a third way: cutting "fat" at city hall.
It seems a widely held view that Toronto is badly managed, replete with too many overpaid employees, excessive perks, and programs that deliver little value. In the current fiscal crisis, it would help if these perceived strains on Toronto's deficit-ridden budget were either put to rest or clearly identified and eliminated.
To that end, Mayor David Miller should immediately create a blue-ribbon panel of experts and concerned citizens to carefully screen all of the city's operations, looking for waste and inefficiencies.
For months, Miller and top city officials have insisted they already have a lean operation and point to several municipal performance studies and "benchmarking" reports showing Toronto is well run. The city's website declares that Toronto has won more than 50 awards for quality and innovation in delivering public services.
But despite those studies and prizes, too many people, including many city councillors, still believe their city is a wasteful operation.
As a result, they bristle at tax increases and regard service cuts as needless pain inflicted by some self-centred bureaucracy. It doesn't help that city council offers a poor example of government efficiency. A majority of councillors insist on clinging to an outrageous 9 per cent wage increase, to perks such as free golf and to hefty office budgets.
No wonder residents doubt they are getting their money's worth.
By assigning an independent probe to root out wasteful practices, Miller could ease some of that skepticism. Either that, or the public's doubts would be confirmed. Then the panel would, at least, point the way to new savings by revealing the hidden squandering at city hall.
This group should include high-profile local business leaders with a reputation for getting things done, some open-minded union representatives, experts on municipal affairs and budgeting, as well as people with a background in social services. They should be given ample time to do a thorough job, perhaps a year. They would make recommendations to council, but could not order cuts on their own.
There is no realistic way such a panel could be pulled together in time to produce a meaningful report before a vote on two badly needed new taxes, scheduled for Oct. 22. Some councillors have balked at approving a proposed land transfer tax and motor vehicle registration fee on grounds that city officials should first cut administrative waste.
Unfortunately, none of the opponents of the new taxes could point to specific examples of waste that added up to the $356 million to be generated by the proposed new taxes and fees.
Miller might be able to win support from some skeptics by creating the special panel, whose findings could be useful in future budgets.
Meanwhile, the perception of bloat at Toronto city hall could be immediately eased if councillors voluntarily trimmed their pay increase and cut back on perks. Huge potential savings from reducing "fat" at city hall are hard to see, but council's excesses stand visible to all.
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