The Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) has completed its review of the City of Toronto's 2005 Budget and the Bike Budget has seen cuts in some areas and no additions in others. Pressure from the community had resulted in some early victories in increasing the Works Departments Bike Plan budget. Some of these increases have been taken back. There have not been any successes in the Parks or UDS budgets. The budget will now go on to the Policy and Finance Committee where there will be an opportunity for residents of Toronto to have their say in what they want the budget to contain. This is the last opportunity for residents of Toronto to have their input into the budget process. Contacting the Mayor and your councillor will help to convince them to fully fund and fully staff the Toronto Bike Plan. Scroll to the bottom of the article to see how you can get involved.

Capital Budgets

Works

The biggest gain made in the first stage of budget meetings, the increase of the Works Capital Budget from $1 million to $2 million, has been preserved by the BAC. This meets the Toronto Cycling Committee's (TCC) recommendation of a $2 million dollar base budget for cycling infrastructure in the Transportation Services budget. An additional $500,000 that was earmarked for improved road crossings for the Gatineau Hydro Corridor Trail and the Belt Line Trail in 2005 has been spread out over three years with $200,000 spent in 2005 and $150,000 spent in each of the following two years. The end result of this is a reduction in the 2005 budget from $2.5 million to $2.2 million.

Another cut to a cycling related budget was to the Transportation Services operating budget. The Works committee had voted to add $110,000 to that budget to fund Car Free Day on Sept. 22, 2005. That entire amount was removed by the BAC this week.

Parks

The TCC made several recommendations regarding the Parks and Recreation Capital budget. One recommendation was that the Parks capital budget for bike paths and bridges be increased to $1.5 million dollars. It was difficult for the TCC prepare a recommendation for the budget process since the Parks Department had not provided full information as to what was budgeted and spent in 2004 and what was spent in 2005. A motion at the Parks committee asked for a report on that as well as for a way to list the cycling related projects more clearly in the budget. That report went to the BAC.

This report from the Commissioner of the Parks and Recreation Department indicated that $1.296 million is allocated for trail construction in 2005. That sounds close to what the TCC recommended, however, the same report shows that what appears in the budget doesn't necessarily show up on the ground. The report shows that in 2004 while the Parks had $1.66 million budgeted for trail construction only $185,000 was actually spent in 2004. Most of the projects listed, $1.125 worth, have been pushed into future years. One $350,000 project to build a trail along Newton Brook Creek is at risk of not going ahead at all. This indicates the need for a better mechanism for members of the TCC and Councillors to track the progress of the Parks and Recreation Department in implementing the Bike Plan. The report states that is not 'practical' to consolidate the budget lines into a separate line item. It does say that it is 'feasible' to have a staff person to provide a summary of the cycling related projects at various times of the year. The BAC received the report which means they did not make any increases to the Parks Budget to implement the Bike Plan or make any improvements to improve the accountability of the Parks and Recreation Department in implementing the Bike Plan. You can see the entire report at the following link: Parks 2005 Budget report.

Another recommendation of the TCC was to increase the budget for the new route signs from $30,000 to $48,000. This increase would allow for the signs along the parks trails to be co-ordinated with the new signs currently going up along on street bike routes and lanes in the south district of the city. There was no increase in this budget item either.

Operating Budgets (Staffing)

The TCC made 3 recommendations to increase the number of staff working on implementing the Bike Plan. The Bike Plan was intended to have an increasing amount of activity every year for the first 5 years of the Bike Plan. We are now going into the 4th year of implementing the Bike Plan and the staff levels are the same as they were in 2001. There are only 2.8 staff in the Works department, none in the Parks and Recreation Department, and 2 in Urban Development Services' Bicycle Safety and Promotions unit. This means that many of the recommendations in the Bike Plan have not been carried out and the pace of rolling out the Bikeway Network has fallen behind what was envisioned. The TCC is recommending that the Cycling and Pedestrian Infrastructure Unit of the Works Department add 2 more staff to accelerate the pace of work in building bike lanes and routes, the Parks and recreation department designate a staff position to co-ordinate the cycling infrastructure projects carried out by Parks, and that the Urban Development Services Department hire 2 staff to develop and implement two of the Bicycle Safety programs that are recommended in the bike plan. To this point in the budget process the only actions taken so far has been to ask for reports to confirm the number of staff working on cycling projects. Those reports have been received, but BAC did not recommend any funding increases.

The Policy and Finance Committee will meet next week starting on February 7th, 2005. This will be the last good chance to convince City Council to fully fund and staff the Toronto Bike Plan. Residents who want the Bike Plan implemented should contact the Mayor and their Councillors and let them know their views. You can e-mail Mayor David Miller directly at mayor_miller@toronto.ca You can find other contact information for Mayor David Miller here: Contacting the Mayor. You should also contact your Councillor, especially if they are on one of the committees considering the budget in the next weeks. The Councillors on those committees are listed below. If you don't know who your Councillor is, there is a City of Toronto web page that will find that information for you if you enter your street address. The web page is here: Find your Councillor.

In addition to contacting your councillor and the Mayor there are other ways to make your views known directly. On February 7th, 2005 there will be an opportunity for members of the public to make deputations to the Policy and Finance Committee. You can contact the clerk of that committee to get on the list for deputations. The contact information is on the web page for the Policy & Finance Committee. You can also write or e-mail the Committee and your letter will be distributed to the members of the committee.

If your local Councillor is on the Policy and Finance Committee or the Budget Advisory Committee, as listed below, it is important that you contact him or her so that they know that there are people in their ward who want them to support cycling programs and the Bike Plan. The list of the committee members along with links to their contact information is below.

Policy and Finance Committee
Sylvia Watson Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park
councillor_watson@toronto.ca
Gay Cowbourne Ward 44 Scarborough East
councillor_cowbourne@toronto.ca
Maria Augimeri Ward 9 York Centre
councillor_augimeri@toronto.ca
Howard Moscoe Ward 15 Eglinton-Lawrence
councillor_moscoe@toronto.ca
Sandra Bussin Ward 32 Beaches-East York
councillor_bussin@toronto.ca
Mark Grimes Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore
councillor_grimes@toronto.ca
Pam McConnell Ward 28 Toronto Centre-Rosedale
councillor_mcconnell@toronto.ca
David Soknacki Ward 43 Scarborough East
councillor_soknacki@toronto.ca

Budget Advisory Committee
David Soknacki (Chair) Ward 43 Scarborough East
councillor_soknacki@toronto.ca
Joe Mihevc (Vice Chair) Ward 21 St. Paul's West
councillor_mihevc@toronto.ca
Jane Pitfield (Vice Chair) Ward 26 Don Valley West
councillor_pitfield@toronto.ca
Sylvia Watson Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park
councillor_watson@toronto.ca
Shelley Carroll Ward 33 Don Valley East
councillor_carroll@toronto.ca
Kyle Rae Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale
councillor_rae@toronto.ca
Peter Milczyn Ward 5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore councillor_milczyn@toronto.ca

There has been momentum this year in getting cycling recognized and funded. We have to keep building on that momentum and make 2005 the best year for the Bike Plan yet.

Martin Koob
tcc-rep@tbn.ca