Payroll information is very tricky to get out of the City I would imagine as there is a legitimate need to preserve folks private information.

Aggregate figures are available in the financial statements that come out a year after the latest budget. Because it is early 2009, the 2008 figures aren’t available yet, but I was able to explore this question for you using the 2007 financial statements which can be found here.

http://www.toronto.ca/budget2007/pdf/2007far_cfs.pdf

On page 103 the report states:

Salaries, wages and benefits represented $4.165 billion of a $9.368 billion budget. This puts salaries , wages and benefits at 44.5% of the 2007 City budget. The 2006 figures also contained on the same page were $3.87 billion and $8.598 billion, representing approximately 45% of the budget.

The most alarming thing about the 2007 financial statement in my mind was the size of the city’s debt load. The inability of Council to deal with the financial realities they faced even before this latest crisis has put our city’s future on a precarious financial footing.

What is also difficult for me to decide is whether accepting and donating, is the same as not accepting, particularly when one considers the tax benefits, and the next cost of living allowance and in future years, one would receive the increase.

It may defer receiving it, but is it the same as refusing it?

Thoughts?

Two Councillor’s appear to have donated the difference to charity instead of declining the cost of living increase.

In both cases each will still have a gross and a net income larger than their peers, although not the personal benefit of that increase this year.

I’m not faulting any individual who donates any portion of their income to charity, because I do strongly believe we all should do what we can as we can to help others, but I am still debating personally whether the debate on a cost of living increase can be tied or solved by charitable donations.

The idea was cost containment on the City side and for Councillor’s to set an example to other workers by showing restraint. While charitable donations is also a good message to send, it might be a different issue all together.