Maybe. When you eliminate duplication of services and every lower tier municipality argues this triggers massive tax increases, there is something very wrong with the numbers. Maybe this was approached the wrong way and Brampton, caledon and mississauga need to disappear as they obviously have issues delivering the required service cost effectively.
There are always winners and losers to all of these things. MAYBE Mississauga would win...but both Brampton and Caledon would lose...
MAYBE
Is Toronto much better off since amalgamation many years ago? Were there actual cost savings? Or was it nothing more than smoke and mirrors for political gains?
There are always winners and losers to all of these things. MAYBE Mississauga would win...but both Brampton and Caledon would win....
MAYBE
Is Toronto much better off since amalgamation many years ago? Were there actual cost savings? Or was it nothing more than smoke and mirrors for political gains?
Toronto is different and not comparable imo. This region over city mess does provide a lot of duplication and in many cases conflicting rules. There should be one layer of municipal government imo. Whether separate cities or a megacity are better, I don't have an opinion on.
My theory.... Mississauga has been arm waving about this for a long time, so why is Ford listening to them now? There has been lots of noise about Bonnie Crombie becoming the next Ontario Liberal leader. Ford is using this as an opportunity to per-emptively take her out. She is unlikely and/or looks really bad to step down as mayor when this is (or even maybe) going through. It will also likely be ugly (specially in Peel outside of Mississauga) and that will taint her politically.
In the end all this to keep his gravy train running.
The break-up of Peel serves him no purpose now that she is the provincial Liberal leader. We will see what he actually does next, is it still on or off?
Toronto is different and not comparable imo. This region over city mess does provide a lot of duplication and in many cases conflicting rules. There should be one layer of municipal government imo. Whether separate cities or a megacity are better, I don't have an opinion on.
There are always winners and losers to all of these things. MAYBE Mississauga would win...but both Brampton and Caledon would lose...
MAYBE
Is Toronto much better off since amalgamation many years ago? Were there actual cost savings? Or was it nothing more than smoke and mirrors for political gains?
I don't think there is a simple answer to that question. Success or failure would be in how you measure success... is it getting better financially, or at planning, increase in programs?
In Toronto's case, the amalgamation plan was never really followed. Initially there were more than 1000 redundant positions that could have been eliminated - mostly management, finance and planning. Same with M&R facility duplications in Parks, Roads, and Sanitation. Services were to be harmonized and equalized between have and have-not neighborhoods, that took 20+ years and there are still disparities.
The amalgamated City budget was never scaled back, so the council simply increased program spending which immediately ate up the potential savings.
I would conclude that there was no gain or loss financially or in service delivery as a result of the amalgamation. The only win would be the equalization of services (which could be taken as a loss if you live in Forest Hill where you now have to drag your garbage to the curb instead of having collectors fetch it from your back yard garbage shed)
Toronto is different and not comparable imo. This region over city mess does provide a lot of duplication and in many cases conflicting rules. There should be one layer of municipal government imo. Whether separate cities or a megacity are better, I don't have an opinion on.
I agree as long as a region reaches the critical mass where it can financially support itself without sharing expenses.
At some point regional gov'ts add a layer of bureaucracy, much being redundant to the local regional or city gov't.
I live in Markham, which has a city and regional gov't. Markham and its residents could gain substantially by offing the the regional layer of gov't. Likely the same for Vaughn and Richmond Hill. Taxpayers from the larger municipalities heavily subsidize the smaller municipalities from in York Region, I would imagine it's the same in Peel.
For example, a Georgina resident with a $5600 tax bill pays $1800 in Region taxes, while the Markham resident with a $5600 tax bill pays $2800 to the Region. Considering the regional services are more expensive to deliver to small rural municipalities, Georgina receives a considerable subsidy.
Hahaha. Only snippets of deloitte report released. Who knows if it is based on reality. Check out the Caledon tax bump. Ahahahaha. And now we know why douggie is thinking about killing the dissolution. A 250% property tax hike on your $5M+ horse farm hurts (but that also supports that Caledon is way undertaxed for their embedded wealth).
Using publicly available data, it concludes that if Brampton becomes an independent municipality, it would have a budget hole of nearly $72 million, every year.
toronto.citynews.ca
" Deloitte report that he maintains concludes if Peel were dissolved, property taxes would rise by 17 per cent in Mississauga, 34 per cent in Brampton and 256 per cent in Caledon."
Hahaha. Only snippets of deloitte report released. Who knows if it is based on reality. Check out the Caledon tax bump. Ahahahaha. And now we know why douggie is thinking about killing the dissolution. A 250% property tax hike on your $5M+ horse farm hurts (but that also supports that Caledon is way undertaxed for their embedded wealth).
Using publicly available data, it concludes that if Brampton becomes an independent municipality, it would have a budget hole of nearly $72 million, every year.
toronto.citynews.ca
" Deloitte report that he maintains concludes if Peel were dissolved, property taxes would rise by 17 per cent in Mississauga, 34 per cent in Brampton and 256 per cent in Caledon."
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toronto.citynews.ca
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