Ottawa bus fare hikes, service cuts proposed

Night and weekend bus service in Ottawa could be reduced and fares raised under a proposal aimed at keeping next year's property tax hike under four per cent.

The city's audit, budget and finance committee spent Friday discussing a proposal to cut around $60 million from the city's budget by:

• Increasing bus fares early in the New Year and cutting night and weekend service for a total of $10 million in savings.
• Hiring just 23 new paramedics, forgoing another 42 planned hires.
• Borrowing the money for $20 million in road and sewer repairs and paying it back later.

In the end, committee members seemed united in favouring the plan.

"This is a package where everyone takes a little water with their wine and we give up some of the things that we would most like to see," said Coun. Diane Deans, a member of the committee and the councillor for Gloucester-Southgate.

She said she doesn't like everything in the proposal, but it would result in a property tax increase of 3.9 per cent instead of seven or eight.  "And I think most taxpayers would be happy with that."

A public consultation on the proposed cuts will take place in January before city council votes on them.

A 3.9 per cent tax increase would represent about $112 for the average Ottawa household, bringing their annual property tax bill to $3,000.

Mayor wants province-wide wage freeze

Earlier in the day, Mayor Larry O'Brien proposed asking Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to impose a province-wide freeze on municipal employees' wages for at least two years.

He said the private sector has suffered greatly as a result of the recession but the public sector has carried on.

"They've received continuous wage increases, they have solid pensions and whatever and I think now as we enter the final stages of what they're telling us may be the recession, maybe it's time that we slow down the increase in public sector spending for a few years to let the province of Ontario to earn its way out of the deficit position it's in and give municipalities a little more freedom," the mayor said.

That idea produced gasps from other councillors, who disagreed.

"We shouldn't be asking the provincial government to do work that we can ourselves achieve in the collective bargaining process," said Coun. Peter Hume, who represents Alta Vista ward.

Steve Desrosches, councillor for Gloucester-South Nepean, said he thinks "it's a little early for a Hail Mary pass like that to the province."