Toonie user fee proposal is 'war on children', councillor says

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Hold onto your toonies, Toronto. You might need them to visit Riverdale Farm, swim in an outdoor pool or borrow a popular movie from the library.

The City of Toronto is looking to shave costs and raise revenue as part of its 2012 budget and new $2 user fees for services that are now free emerged Monday as a key theme in that plan. The new fees – floated during a day-long budget meeting – will be debated later this week and next and, if approved, will go before council next month.

Talk of the new charges is likely to unleash a new wave of budget-cutting protests and, in the case of Riverdale Farm, comes just a few months after council voted unanimously to let a local group work on a new funding plan for the popular family attraction.

Budget chair Councillor Mike Del Grande has made it clear he thinks Toronto has too many "freebies," and the proposed $2 charge to cool off in an outdoor pool or wander among the cows and pigs at Riverdale Farm are just the latest on his list.

"Charging a nominal fee I don't think is the end of the world," he said about his proposal.

But Councillor Adam Vaughan, a strong critic of Mayor Rob Ford, characterized the proposed charges for movies, farms and swimming pools as "a war on children" being waged by the same council that cancelled the city's $60 car registration tax as one of its first acts in office.

"If this council doesn't have the courage to tax the car, where does it get the gumption to start taxing kids?" he told reporters. "Is that what this city has come down to? We are going to ding kids because we are afraid to tax adults."

Mr. Del Grande said councillors should not complain about closing facilities if they are unwilling to look at other alternatives such as fees to keep them running. "If every argument boils down to the most vulnerable then we might as well not do absolutely anything," he said. "We should just skyrocket taxes for everyone and just continue unabated. That's one point of view."

The proposed budget – released last week – aims to reduce the city's total spending for the first time since amalgamation and would require major layoffs of up to 1,190 city workers, cuts to transit service and a 10-per-cent reduction in most departments. It also recommends a 2.5-per-cent increase in residential taxes.

Rookie councillor Michelle Berardinetti, who floated the controversial plan to charge library users to borrow blockbuster films, said the fees are an alternative to possible service cuts. She said the exact charge will be set by the library board, but told The Globe and Mail she thought $2 was appropriate.

"We have been talking about this for at least the past year – how can we generate revenue and not close library hours," said Ms. Berardinetti, whose motion asks the chief librarian for a briefing note on the barriers to charging such fees.

Creating a fee would require a change to provincial legislation, which currently bars libraries from charging for services. Ms. Berardinetti ventured to Queen's Park Monday to gauge the government's appetite for changing library laws and said she received encouraging signs.

Chief Librarian Jane Pyper said any order to charge for DVDs could upset the library's mandate. "We have always provided a balance of educational, instructional, informational, recreational and entertainment materials across all formats," she said. "We would want to keep that balance."

The library spends about $885,000 on popular films each year, including documentaries, Ms. Pyper told the committee, and $350,000 on "non-feature" DVDs.

Anne Pastuszak, a member of the Riverdale Farm Coalition that was given until June by council to develop a new business plan for the site, called the unexpected fee proposal unfortunate. "I think to jump automatically on this as a solution absolutely sidesteps the process we have in place," she said.