FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE: Council ignores workers and residents in decision to continue LRT cuts, says Horizon Ottawa
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE: Sutcliffe's proposed fare hike up to 75% reckless, says Horizon Ottawa
OTTAWA - Horizon Ottawa is calling Sutcliffe's proposed budget directions reckless, especially his proposal to hike transit fares by up to 75% to make up for a budget shortfall that the Mayor claims is due to the federal and provincial governments.
In a press conference this morning, Sutcliffe stressed the city's difficult financial situation, saying that there are "not a lot of solutions left" in reference to his proposed budget directions which could see more service cuts and transit fares rise up to 75% making them the most expensive in Canada at $6.74.
At the same time, Sutcliffe is only proposing to raise the property tax increase by 0.4% to 2.9% while other cities across Ontario have made the difficult but necessary decisions to raise property taxes by as much as 5 to 10%.
"Sutcliffe's ideological committment to keeping property taxes arbitrarily low is reckless and will bankrupt this city" said Sam Hersh, Coordinator for Horizon Ottawa. "We need a Mayor who is ready to make tough decisions not one who is willing to put our city under to please his political base."
Instead of making a modest hike to property taxes, Sutcliffe has cut the transit budget in one way or another since he was elected Mayor in 2022. In the 2023 budget, he cut the capital budget by almost $50 million and in the last budget he made the largest service cut since 2011.
Sutcliffe has laid the blame for this "crisis" primarily on other levels of government since launching his "campaign for fairness" in August. However, other Mayors like Olivia Chow in Toronto were succesful in securing hundreds of millions for transit operating dollars from the provincial government while Sutcliffe received next to nothing in his negotiations with Ford opting instead for money for police and roads.
"Other Mayors like Olivia Chow in Toronto have shown that it is possible to get transit dollars from the province." Said Hersh. "Why is it that Chow was able to get these dollars but our Mayor wasn't? Either it's because he doesn't care about transit or that he is a bad negotiator. I'd reckon it could be both."
The Budget Directions report will be officially tabled at the Finance and Corporate Services Committee meeting next Monday, September 16th.
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For Media Inquiries:
Sam Hersh
613-663-7018
[email protected]
