Budget wrangling over how to spend taxes at city hall begins

Health committee struggling to prepare plan with no increase

Wrangling over how to spend taxes on city services in 2019 began on Tuesday with the Toronto board of health budget committee approving increases for school nutrition programs and programs for the homeless and drug addicted.

“We want to enhance servic- es,” Coun. Sarah Doucette said after the meeting, during which councillors and staff grappled with how to serve residents while working within Mayor John Tory’s election promise not to raise taxes above the rate of inflation for the second term in a row.

All city departments have been asked to prepare zeroi-ncrease budgets for 2019, even though, Doucette pointed out, both Toronto’s population and the cost of living are rising.

The proposed 2019 Toronto Public Health budget request considered by the budget committee on Tuesday includes a spending increase of $1.32 million, up 2.1 per cent over 2018. “How can we come in with a zero budget? It’s just absolutely ridiculous,” said Doucette, who has been on the committee for eight years. She opted not to run against Coun. Gord Perks under the new 25-ward system in the recent municipal election.

It’s still early in the process — the decisions made by the board of health budget committee on Tuesday will have to be approved by a meeting of the board of health next week, and must then survive council’s spring budget 2019 debates in order to win final approval.

Added funding for school nutrition programs is required due to increases in student participation levels and programs operating more days each week. Tuesday’s budget committee also voted to expand the nutrition program to independent schools which meet program eligibility criteria.

“If a child comes to school hungry, they’re not going to learn. Get them a snack, get them some good food and they’re going to learn better and behave better,” said Doucette.

The committee also voted to spend upwards of $700,000 to fund six dedicated outreach workers and one supervisor, working with the homeless who use drugs at safe injection sites operating at 277 Victoria St. and the Downtown East area near Moss Park.