Ford’s First Budget: Balanced, But No Cuts

The Toronto mayor who promised to slash costs mainly stayed the course with his first budget, but warned that deep cuts are coming.

So one more year of gravy then? Rob Ford was elected on a platform to decrease spending but his inaugural budget, unveiled Monday, is actually slightly larger than his predecessor’s $9.3-billion plan. Critics have questioned the plausibility of Ford’s campaign promises to drastically reduce the budget without affecting city services, and point out that he was only able to balance the 2011 budget by using surpluses left behind by outgoing mayor David Miller. But Ford vowed to carry out his plan Monday, saying that he would unleash a team of experts to find waste at City Hall and that the 2012 budget will feature substantial cuts. He warned that department heads who don’t meet reduction targets would be swiftly replaced.