That is nonsense, and you are misrepresenting the situation with the reserves. They are hardly exhausted, or even going down. Yes, getting annual financing from the emergency reserves is a problem, but it's not veering the city towards bankruptcy. Under Miller the reserves have steadily been growing. When Miller took office they were
$933 billion. The most recent financial report has the reserves at
$1.4 billion.
Between 2001 and 2008, approximately $659 million was obtained through
revenue increases, approximately $510 million through efciency savings, and
$2.2 billion through what the City describes as “one time revenues.†This
translates into an average annual operating budget gap of $367 million. This
year’s operating budget is only balanced because of a combination of some new
taxes and a contribution of approximately $200 million from the Province. In
the absence of major changes to the City’s fscal relationships with other gov-
ernments, new sources of revenue, or expenditure reductions, we expect from
our analysis that a structural operating shortfall of $250 to $350 million will
persist in the future (See Figure 1).
This approach is unsustainable. In time, the City’s reserve funds will run
out — almost $1.6 billion has been used in the decade since amalgamation.
Eventually, it will no longer be possible to defer investments. Moreover, too
much depends on the generosity of the Province.
Page 35 here.....
www.toronto.ca/mayor_miller/pdf/blueprint_report_20080217.pdf