Mayor Rob Ford and Police Chief Bill Blair emerged from a 90-minute meeting to say they are on the same page about the city's budget.

"We had a very, very constructive meeting, and I support the chief 100 per cent," Ford told reporters afterwards.

Blair, standing beside the mayor, said, "We've gone over various aspects and implications of the police budget, and I think we've come to a far better understanding."

The chief said he would be going to the Police Services Board meeting on Monday afternoon and share the mayor's concerns about the police budget and attempt to address them.

In unveiling his 2011 budget on Monday, Ford said he was pleased that most agencies achieved their targets of a five per cent cut.

However, the mayor said some "arm's-length agencies" refused to meet targets because managers "decided their interests were more important than the taxpayers' interests.”

"I will assure you as part of our upcoming department review process, we will focus on those agencies first and foremost," Ford said. "If they are unable to manage effectively and in the best interest of the taxpayers, then we will have to find new managers that can."

The Toronto Police Service had asked for a three per cent increase. Blair had said a five per cent cut would take police officers off the street.

The mayor's budget plan means no property tax increase or "major" service cuts, but does propose to boost transit fares.

A five per cent cut to operating expenses was also included in the budget, which Ford described as the first of two steps toward ending the city's structural deficit.

Next year's budget will feature more drastic cuts, he said.

"This is the beginning of a new era," Ford said. "I am committed to putting the hard-working taxpayers of Toronto back at the centre of everything that we do. We're all in this together and, together, we will succeed."

A five per cent cut to spending would mean reducing the operating budget by about $47 million.

Ford said the budget aims to keep the property-tax increase at zero and should not spend more than 2010's $9.2-billion operating budget.

He said the balanced budget was possible without any more money invested from the federal or provincial governments.

However, user fees are going up by $23 million. The city also inherited a $268 million surplus from the 2010 budget, uses up a $75 million reserve fund and had some higher-than-expected revenues. Fees will rise for some recreation programs. Garbage collection fees will go up by three per cent, and water rates by nine per cent.

Coun. Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), a long-time opponent of Ford's, didn't give the new mayor any credit.

"Rob Ford delivered nothing today. In fact, if it wasn't for the work of (former mayor) David Miller and (Ontario) Premier Dalton McGuinty, he'd be flipping and flopping like a beached whale," he said.

‘Minor service level changes'

Toronto city manager Joe Pennachetti had asked his bureaucrats to find ways to reduce costs leading up to the budget recommendations.

The savings from "service efficiencies" and "minor service level changes" are pegged at $57 million. Ford's elimination of the unpopular vehicle registration tax on Jan. 1 returned $64 million to drivers.

The budget did include some sacrifices, Ford said, the most notable of which is a 10-cent transit fare increase to be introduced on Feb. 1.

Ford said TTC staff recommended the fare increase in order to meet service levels required for an expected increase in ridership.

The transit increase would not affect fares paid in cash, which will stay at $3 for an adult. A token's cost would rise to $2.60 from $2.50 while weekly passes would jump to $37.25 from $36.

The new cost of a monthly pass would be $126, up from the current $121.

Stintz also said the TTC will be adjusting the way they used resources by trimming service on lesser-used bus routes and shoring up high-traffic rounds.

Listed in the budget were several examples of "minor service level changes" intended to cut spending at City Hall. They included:

  • ending Toronto's support for the C40 climate change Secretariat in London, England, for a savings of $70,000
  • eliminating funding for international economic development and culture missions to save $100,000
  • reducing the size of City Hall's "Our Toronto" publication to save $139,000
  • saving $100,000 by closing the urban affairs library branch at Metro Hall and moving the collection to the Central Reference Library
  • shaving $100,000 from the tenant defence subcommittee that helps tenant groups dispute unfair rent increases

The city plans to eliminate some jobs through attrition and to house some homeless people in motels instead of shelters. While it would save $225,000, it would come at the cost of not feeding those affected, critics charged.

"Some of the poorest people in Toronto are literally having food taken out of their mouths to help balance this budget," said Coun. Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park).

There were also some capital projects either cut back or eliminated. Those include renovations for Nathan Phillips Square and the massive rink complex in the Portlands.

Council will be reviewing the budget recommendations over the next six weeks and will approve a final version on Feb. 23.

The following public consultations are scheduled:

  • Jan. 19 - North York Civic and East York Civic Centres, 6 p.m.
  • Jan. 20 - Scarborough and York Civic Centres, 6 p.m.

No consultation has been scheduled for downtown. The East York consultation is supposed to cover off the old city of Toronto.

Ford said that the 2011 budget was a "modest" improvement over 2010's and to anticipate major strides to be made in next year's budget. He said city staff and outside experts would be tasked with recommending detailed cuts.

"They will leave no stone unturned. I am confident they will find opportunities to eliminate our structural deficit once and for all," Ford said.

During the election campaign, Ford said: "I assure you services will not be cut. I will guarantee it." He promised to hold property tax increases to the rate of inflation.

With reports from CTV Toronto's Alicia Markson and Naomi Parness