Every day the news headlines are CITY OF TORONTO BROKE, CITY OF TORONTO RAISES TAXES, CITY OF TORONTO CUTTING BACK SERVICES DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS. It appears that the only thing that the city has money for is very large salaries. The number of employees at City Hall who earned over $100,000 has increased by 47% from last year going from 2,010 in 2006 to 2,965 last year. How is this possible in a city that is broke?

Read this list and weep!

• Toronto City Manager Shirley Hoy has an annual salary of $322,128 plus benefits worth $9,079.00
• TTC chief general manager Gary Webster earned $273,735 with benefits of $13,731
• Police Chief Bill Blair earned $270,052 with a benefits package of $1,480
• Toronto Chief Financial Officer Joe Pennachetti earned $244,897 in salary and $13,309 in benefits
• Medical Officer of Health David McKeown earned $225,801 in salary and $9,787 in benefits
• Deputy City Manager Susan Corke earned $225,595 in salary and $11,735 in benefits
• Toronto Zoo CEO, Calvin White earned $208,963.86
• Toronto Library, City Librarian, Josephine Bryant earned $195,743.10
• Director of Transportation, Gary Welsh earned $176,051.85
• St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, General Manager, James Roe earned $145,924.79

The troubled TTC has 111 staff members earning over $100,000 per year. This is an absolute scandal and many feel that in the real world (a non-governmental job) these salaries and benefits would not be paid for the same jobs. The prevailing wind is that the City of Toronto is in great need of some internal housekeeping in the form of reducing payroll costs by reevaluating salaries and downsizing their workforce – just like companies who have no money do in the real world.

Why are the taxpayers of Toronto working full time for minimum wage and living below the poverty line when the city clearly has an overabundance of money for salaries?