“We are very optimistic about the city and its future,” Blake Hutchenson, chair of the fiscal review panel that Mayor David Miller set up last fall to review the city’s books, told a crowded room of hungry reporters. After a summer ripe with tension over whether or not council would approve two new controversial taxes and a fall full of heated debate over how to best solve the city’s never-ending budget woes, this morning, the independent panel, made up of economists, business leaders, labour professionals and academics, released their report filled with advice for how Toronto can move towards a financially sustainable future.  Recommendations included road tolls, moving towards an even stronger strong mayor system, consolidating real estate holdings and re-thinking the management of capital assets.

“If the city can make its fiscal stability and sustainability a huge priority, then it can unlock all it’s other dreams and aspirations, but until it gets that right, we’re of the view that it’s really being held back at this point,” Hutchenson told the crowd. “There is no single solution; there really has to be a united front of solutions. “

One recommendation is to consider implementing road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and the DVP. This could be done, the panel says, in coorperation with the province, which could also place tolls on the 401 and 427 highways that circle the city. The Gardiner and DVP cost Toronto $20 million annually, Hutchenson said. Revenue from tolls, however, could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funds.

“Do you really want people from Markham to have to pay tolls to catch a game at the Air Canada Centre?” one reporter asked panel member Larry Tannenbaum, who’s also chair of the board of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

Tannenbaum was quick with his reply. “There’s something called public transit that actually works so much better and goes right into Union Station and connects to the ACC,” he said.

Another question from the press involved councillor’s office budgets and perks. Despite all the attention the subject has been getting recently, this didn’t play a huge role, or any role for that matter, in the panel’s evaluation of the city’s finances. “Quite frankly, that’s noise,” said panelist Paul Massara, President of Genesis Capital Corporation. “I think it actually runs down the city, it runs down trusted politicians, and I think that’s a shame.”

I’ll be back with more details and analysis on the report over the next few days. In the meantime, you can download the entire report from the city’s website here.

Traffic photograph Rick Eglinton/Toronto Star.

Email us at: LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1