Following a vocal backlash by residents, a growing number of Toronto councillors want to scrap plans to close community centres as a measure to help the cash-strapped city out of its financial woes.
The North York community council on Monday voted 9-1 to ask city council to stop its plan to close 100 community centres on Mondays and delay the opening of ice rinks until January.
In Etobicoke-York, council voted 6-1 in favour of intervention, the Toronto Star reported, while a similar motion at the Scarborough community council ended in a 4-4 tie. The remaining community council, Toronto-East York, didn't hold a vote.
In total, 19 councillors -- including long-time backers of Mayor David Miller -- voted in favour of not closing recreation centres one day a week to save money.
Twenty-three votes would be needed to re-open the controversial issue.
Coun. Michael Thompson (Ward 37, Scarborough Centre) says that Miller is refusing to listen to the pleas of council or the residents of Toronto.
"It sends a message that the mayor is not listening and that he's not in tune with the residents of Toronto," Thompson told CTV News.
"It sends the message that he mayor has a particular mandate which is not in the context with that of the public."
Two councillors who sit on Miller's powerful executive committee -- Howard Moscoe (Ward 15, Eglinton-Lawrence) and Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) -- have previously voted to examine the cuts announced earlier this summer.
"None of us want to close community centres. That being said, we've got to do one of three things. As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to vote for the land speculation tax," Moscoe told CTV News on Tuesday.
Opponents of the city's Miller-endorsed plan to trim services say they were encouraged by Monday's votes. They believe there is a good chance the reductions could be reversed at council at the end of the month.
The mayor says the city has no choice but to cut services because council voted in July to defer a decision on bringing in a new land transfer tax and vehicle registration fee. The taxes would have brought in $356 million a year.
Toronto faces a $575 million shortfall for next year's budget and city officials say they must find new sources of revenue.
City staff proposed closing community centres on Mondays starting next week, which would save $700,000 this year, and delaying the opening of city ice rinks by a month. Another measure was closing 16 library branches on Sundays, which went into effect on the weekend.
Toronto's four community councils have authority to make decisions on local matters but can only make recommendations to the full city council on major issues.
Miller is currently out of the country, attending a climate change summit in Utah, but deputy mayor Joe Pantalone said he thinks the mayor will rule the community council motions out of order.
The move could result in a showdown with councillors.
"It's a problem for the mayor," Councillor Bill Saundercook (Ward 13, Parkdale-High Park), told the Star. "If he thinks that talking about these service cuts is a way to get council members to support new taxes, it appears to be backfiring."
With a report from CTV's Desmond Brown
