A report recommending privatizing garbage for 165,000 Toronto homes would save as much as $8 millions and would not result in service decreases, the public works chair said on Monday.
A report set to go before the public works committee next week recommends privatizing trash removal services for an area stretching from Lake Ontario to Steeles Avenue between Yonge Street and the Humber River to the west.
The region encompasses 165,000 homes and is being considered the first phase of city-wide privatization. The city expects the contract to be worth $20 million and would last seven years.
Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the public works committee, says the change will not result in any service cuts or changes to the city's environmental initiatives.
"We're just spending too much money and we need to find some savings," Minnan-Wong told reporters on Monday. "We can deliver service better at a lower cost."
The city says it will cut about 300 jobs, most of them temporary positions and will save about $8 million a year.
The union claims the estimate is flawed and says at least 240 of those positions are full-time unionized employees.
The head of Toronto's public workers' union has been fighting against the plan for months, warning city staff and the public that privatizing garbage collection would cost taxpayers more, not less.
"This administration has based their decisions on an ideological position that is not fact-based," said Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE local 416.
The plan to privatize garbage was a key issue in Ford's election campaign, during which he attacked former mayor David Miller's handling of a 2009 garbage strike.
The recommendation sets the stage for a fierce battle between City Hall and unionized employees. Even some councillors say they were being kept in the dark, claiming they were not provided details or told about a briefing on the issue.
The recommendation will likely go to a full council vote next month and, if passed, would go into effect as early as next summer.
