Ford to spend millions on management consultants

[canada-man]

Critics of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford say he is spending too much money on management consultants hired to cut spending.

Consultants are expected cost the city about $3 million to investigate each department looking savings.

Ford, however, says the goal is to find $775 million in waste by late June.

Some members of council say they are worried the cost cutting measures could close down recreation facilities and other services.

The mayor's executive committee is expected to authorize the reviews Monday.

http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110321/110321_consultants/20110321/?hub=CP24Home

 

[oldjones]

If they find it, I trust they'll use the first $3,000,000 to restore the services that already were cut to pay for the consultants. Comes out to peanuts per taxpayer, and with $772 million saved, should be easy. Anything like such numbers and my hats off to the consultans and Bob 'n' Doug.

But my bet is they won't find anything remotely like that much waste. To come anywhere near that number what theyll have to do is find programs and services most of us don't use, and label them 'waste'. "But there won't be service cuts", says Rob. The part about "…for us, and people we care about" was sotto voce.

Watch for the Semantic Olympics to come.

 

[alb]

Its a great move and a great idea! There are no services that are going to be cut by allocating this money. $3,000,000 is such a small expense given the gross misspending that has been going on for decades. The city has a muti-billion dollar budget and if $3,000,000 is spent to find even $50 million or more in savings then this is money well spent. The city will get value for this money and should be considered an investment not an expense. There is such a bloated bureaucracy down at city hall and the millions of dollars being wasted each and every year.

Anyone who thinks there is not waste at city hall is deluding themselves. Just look at the huge misspending of the Toronto Housing Coporation. One article I read said they took $75 million that was earrmarked for much needed repairs and invested it in the stock market and lost almost $40 million of it which they are still trying to recoup. Not to mentioned the lavish trips the board members treated themselves to. This misspending was discovered by one person, the city's auditor general, just imagine what would be uncovered by bringing in these consultants.

No doubt these experts will find examples of over spending and abuses. Not only that they will also make recommendations on how these departments can save money and run more efficiently.

Toronto has got to get a grip on its spending and just given it shear size they need to bring in outside expertise to get a handle on things. Private industry does these types of exercises all the time. Wonder what opponents of this idea are afraid of by going through this needed process.

Ford was elected with a huge mandate to do this and this is why he is currently standing with a 70% approval rating. The people elected him to clean up the books and that is exactly what he is doing! He has done more positive steps in his first 100 days in office then Miller did in his entire 7 years in office!

 

[red]

not surprising since the the mayor asked the departments to find savings and they said no. he needs to bring in a third party to go through the numbers. i guess thats why its happened.

 

[oldjones]

Its a great move and a great idea! There are no services that are going to be cut by allocating this money.…edit…

Sorry, but you're wrong. There already were service cuts that totalled more than this $3,000,000, which was added to items already in the budget. Services were cut to buy these consultants, if they perform as advertised, it'll be easy to put the $3,000,000 back and restore those services. After all, Rob did promise he wouldn't cut any.

Any reason you'd care to share why Rob is advertising $775 million in savings from waste and you're only mentioning $50 million? Every bit helps, but that would still leave our city $725 million in the hole. To be funded from saved gravy, without service cuts.

 

[HOCKEY_GOD]

Wonder if this includes HR audits... Tony hires his cousin Mimmo, his sister-in-law Maria, his uncle Gino, his nephew Carmine, etc... I'm not kidding. The City's carrying tons of deadweight because of blatant nepotism. I have more than one source communicating this but they are not interested in pursuing the issue because they're close to retirement.

 

[wigglee]

he's just diverting the gravy to his friends

 

[friendz4evr]

Prelude to Layoffs coming.

 

[blackrock13]

he's just diverting the gravy to his friends

......... and they would be?

 

[Questor]

No doubt these experts will find examples of over spending and abuses. Not only that they will also make recommendations on how these departments can save money and run more efficiently.

Toronto has got to get a grip on its spending and just given it shear size they need to bring in outside expertise to get a handle on things. Private industry does these types of exercises all the time. Wonder what opponents of this idea are afraid of by going through this needed process.

I am afraid that Ford is lying to the public and has a hidden agenda to cut services and to privatize what remains. That is what I am afraid of. If Ford can find real waste and eliminate it without cutting programs and services, then more power to him. However, I think the reality is, unfortunately, closer to what oldjones has described above. Only time will tell.

If they find it, I trust they'll use the first $3,000,000 to restore the services that already were cut to pay for the consultants. Comes out to peanuts per taxpayer, and with $772 million saved, should be easy. Anything like such numbers and my hats off to the consultans and Bob 'n' Doug.

But my bet is they won't find anything remotely like that much waste. To come anywhere near that number what theyll have to do is find programs and services most of us don't use, and label them 'waste'. "But there won't be service cuts", says Rob. The part about "…for us, and people we care about" was sotto voce.

Watch for the Semantic Olympics to come.

 

[red]

Prelude to Layoffs coming.

yay!

 

[oldjones]

Yup, let's start with police and fire; that'll give wiggle room everywhere else in the budget. Leave them untouched and you could cut just about everybody else and still not solve the money problem. But wouldn't that make TO world class with garbage uncollected, roads going back to gravel and no building or health inspectors. Guess we could just ask the cops to keep people from starting shantytowns in the parks.

 

[oldjones]

When you see an agency grossly overpay for so many commodity services, you cannot attribute it to incompetence. There is always a fiscal motivation. ALWAYS follow the money

There have been secret commissions paid to the most senior people in Toronto Community Housing to facilitate those huge overpriced multi-million dollar sole sourced un-bid contracts.

It is not just the small amount of money paid in secret commissions, it is the HUGE overpayments and culture that has to be fostered within the organization to make the kickbacks worthwhile paying and risking criminal charges over.

Perhaps, but only you seem to have that evidence. Why not take it down to City Hall?

The Auditor found only some thousands in spending for improper items like chocolates, picnics and pedicures (stuff that all sorts of businesses, profit and non-profit alike, routinely decide to give as perks, but that a public non-profit like TCHC should be more thoughtful about). Where he found the big amounts, he did not say they were wasted, or mis-spent, and it is still possible that they may prove to be the bargains that the TCHC decison-makers claim. But they were entirely forbidden by the bidding and tendering rules under which they were required to operate. He didn't find secret commissions, nor overpricing, let alone anything HUGE. But you did. Do tell

Sorry, that HUGE thing's not entirely true. Everyone knows the HUGE thing at TCHC is the gap between what it costs us and what it would take to do the job right. Now we all know Rob 'n' Doug's new board will turn every saved dollar into yet another housing unit, so will TCHC get huger? Or—say it ain't so—will they cut services here so the numbers of homeless get huger? Or will Rob 'n' Doug make a HUGE fuss at Queen's Park and get them to take back the Ontario Housing Mikey bombed us with, so maybe some of those folks don't think they have to come here to get it.

Whatever the answer, it's bound to be good; we're spending three mill—tendered to the lowest bid I'm sure—to have outsiders come up with it.

 

[red]

sell every fuckin unit at tchc

 

[fuji]

sell every fuckin unit at tchc

Then?

 

[Curious36]

I get a kick out of people who think it is possible to suck and blow at the same time (insert joke here). Bottom line is that the cities finances do not reflect the reality of the times or economic conditions around us. Deficits cannot continually run amok as this will contribute to the ever increasing debt-load. As such the amount of taxpayer dollars required to service the debt will continue to rise and services/programs WILL be cut in the future. Rob Ford is trying his best to take control of the situation and reign in costs associated with unnecessary expenditures. Will services be cut? I think they will. I also think it is a good thing as we all have to make sacrafices when the going gets tough. Think of it as your household....can anyone here spend more than their combined family income for numerous years and not suffer as a result? Conversely when things get tough (layoff or otherwise) people forego services and expenditures that they were accustomed to prior (gasp the Left Wing cant handle this reality). I think there needs to be cuts in the public sector to reflect economic reality.
To address the OP I personally think the $3million is well spent in order to find many millions in inefficiencies. Something else to consider is, how greedy are we as individuals to accept the fact that the burden of debt we are incurring on a continual basis, will be saddled on the backs of future generations? Time to act is now....

 

[fuji]

The reality is this: Rob Ford has NO IDEA how to save money. He doesn't know where the "gravy" is. He can't even say for sure that there is any.

He talked a lot of shit during the election campaign and as we all predicted it's turned out to be a lot of shit. He's tried to find the "gravy", and he's failed. Now he's hiring someone else to try and find it for him, and he will fail. Or he will cut programs and call it gravy.

We all know what the real problem is, and we all know that Ford isn't capable of fixing it. The real problem is that the union contracts are way too expensive. Wages are way too high. Benefits are way too high. Is Ford going to do anything about it? Not really. He's just locked the TTC in to permanent wage hikes. He's handing the Police Union a sweet deal. He's basically already decided to lock the city into those high priced contracts, and with that stuff locked in there really isn't much else he can do.

Sure, you could save money by closing down entire programs, like defunding TCHC entirely, but then what? You've massively cut services and there will be all sorts of repercussions. Next you'll be complaining about the massive increase in homeless people, as all those TCHC residents start getting evicted. After that it will be the rising crime rate, as they start stealing things to try and earn a living, or just turning into fuckups on drugs as they lose all hope.

Short story: Rob Ford doesn't know what to do and doesn't have a plan so he's spending a boat load of money hoping someone else will.

 

[wigglee]

He looks like he has eaten his share of gravy and more.....but the important thing is to carefully monitor all spending: is it legit, open tendered, the best deal? and also all councillors and city bureaucrats should be watched closely for kickbacks. Cut the waste , maintain services, and if that ain't enuf, raise taxes. If you cut services, those kids in the ghetto with no future will swell in numbers, and where will all the rich hide?

 

[blackrock13]

he's just diverting the gravy to his friends

......... and they would be?

He looks like he has eaten his share of gravy and more.....but the important thing is to carefully monitor all spending: is it legit, open tendered, the best deal? and also all councillors and city bureaucrats should be watched closely for kickbacks. Cut the waste , maintain services, and if that ain't enuf, raise taxes. If you cut services, those kids in the ghetto with no future will swell in numbers, and where will all the rich hide?

I noticed you didn't list any of his 'friends' you showed such concerns about earlier. so it's basically clap trap. Lots of accusations but no facts to back them. It's getting to be a habit.

 

[Curious36]

The reality is this: Rob Ford has NO IDEA how to save money. He doesn't know where the "gravy" is. He can't even say for sure that there is any.

He is a business owner...as such he KNOWS how to save money. He also has pointed out glaringly blatent overspending by the previous regime time and time again while being a councilor.

He talked a lot of shit during the election campaign and as we all predicted it's turned out to be a lot of shit. He's tried to find the "gravy", and he's failed. Now he's hiring someone else to try and find it for him, and he will fail. Or he will cut programs and call it gravy.
a
The guy has been at the helm for about 4 months and you expect him to have everything fixed by now? I think you had higher hopes than even Fords biggest proponents. He has hired professionals to do a professional job. I run my own business very well but needed to hire a plumber recently because a plumber I am not. I leave that shit to the professionals.

We all know what the real problem is, and we all know that Ford isn't capable of fixing it. The real problem is that the union contracts are way too expensive. Wages are way too high. Benefits are way too high. Is Ford going to do anything about it? Not really. He's just locked the TTC in to permanent wage hikes. He's handing the Police Union a sweet deal. He's basically already decided to lock the city into those high priced contracts, and with that stuff locked in there really isn't much else he can do.

I agree with much of this statement. I agree with essential service status of TTC in the fact that they cannot hold us hostage on wage increases etc but lets hope the arbitrators take into account ability of taxpayers to pay (which they havent in the past).

Sure, you could save money by closing down entire programs, like defunding TCHC entirely, but then what? You've massively cut services and there will be all sorts of repercussions. Next you'll be complaining about the massive increase in homeless people, as all those TCHC residents start getting evicted. After that it will be the rising crime rate, as they start stealing things to try and earn a living, or just turning into fuckups on drugs as they lose all hope.

I think the cuts that would be more responsible would be those to the arts and fringe services that dont impact the lives of average citizens. There are plenty. Some will cry but let them cry.....hope they dont spill their lattes in the process.

Short story: Rob Ford doesn't know what to do and doesn't have a plan so he's spending a boat load of money hoping someone else will.

Again he has only been in place for a short period of time and I like his progress. Most others do too to the tune of about 70%.....