I’m so tired of hearing that the City of Toronto is broke and that they have no choice but to raise taxes and cut services. It’s become a mantra. If that is the case then can someone who has some sense in his head explain to me how the same broke City of Toronto is now planning to spend $61 million to hire 1,300 new employees.

Some of the hires make good sense and address the current crisis in the economy like 166 case workers to keep up with the increasing demand for welfare, but I take serious issue about hiring a Blackberry expert and 3 new hires to help commemorate the War of 1812. Some of the other new hires include:
- 5 permanent inspectors for grow-op crackdown
- 1 tech job to set up an electronic tracking system for crackdown on illegal signs
- 2 temporary positions to work on reviewing and reporting councilor expenses
- 2 positions for collection of new taxes
- 11 customer service representatives to reduce delays at parking tag counters
- 8 jobs to increase the number of dog and cat licenses
- 2 workers to maintain street trees
- 8 workers to handle tree-cutting applications from developers
- 3 positions for the lobbyist registry
- 4 positions for ombudsman’s office

As Dr. Phil would say, ‘Let’s Get Real!’. You and I are going to be paying for this lunacy. Approximately $30 million is expected to come from the 4% residential property tax increase and business tax increases and the other half will come from user fees and provincial or federal subsidies. Shouldn’t we have a say in how our tax dollars are being spent? On March 31 the City Council will vote on the budget, so we’ll have to wait until then until we find out if any of these jobs will be posted.