Projected operating deficit of $172 million, a big dilemma for TTC budget committee
Reports continued that to overcome the problem of a decrease in the budget by 2.6 percent amounting to $16 million, TTC had been advised to capitalize on reduced prices for diesel fuel and by delaying the initiation of the Presto fare.
Some of the other alternatives suggested by the reports were TTC’s compliance with Mayor Tory’s request of trimming the budget of all city departments by 2.6 per cent, a result of decrease in health-care claims by employees, and privatizing Toronto Hydro to raise money for transit.
But Colle was of the opinion that still TTC would not be able to come up with a further $172 million, reports said.
“I think it will certainly be increased over last year. I don’t think there is any doubt about that,” Cole said. “The question is how much does it increase and what is the amount that we are left to fund through the tools we have here at the TTC.”
Cole pessimistically added that these factors could result in both service cuts and fare increase to fill the huge gap and added, “It’s just the basic math and the numbers before us,” said the reports.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
Image:wikimedia commons
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