Toronto to offer buyouts to 17,000 city workers

About 17,000municipal workers in Toronto will be eligible for a buyout package as the cash-strapped city tries to parea $774-million budget shortfall.

City manager Joe Pennachetti announced details of the buyout offer on Tuesday afternoon.

Pennachetti said he's not sure how much the buyouts will cost, since it's not yet known how many people will take the offer.

The deadline for workers to accept the voluntary offer is Sept. 9.

Union, non-union and management employees are all being offered buyouts of up to six months salary.Pennachetti said police, transit and library workers are not included.

About 45 per cent, or $4.6 billion of the city's operating budget, is earmarked for salaries and benefits.

Earlier on Tuesday, city budget chairman Mike Del Grande said cuts to city staffers were inevitable.

"I would not preclude the fact that obviously when you are looking at labour being your largest cost you would look at strategies of what you might or might not do with respect to the labour force," he told CBC's Metro Morning.

Toronto faces a looming $774-million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year. In the spring, itkicked off a comprehensive review of all city services, how they are provided, and the fees people pay for them.

The city is currently releasing components ofan extensive study prepared by KPMG, an independent auditor, laying out all the areas where cuts could possibly be made. It is then up to city council and associated committees to determine which of those cuts will be implemented.

KPMG has already released two such reports one concerning thepublic worksdepartment, and the other, released Tuesday, pertaining toeconomic devlopment. Further such reports will be released over the coming days.

On Tuesday, Mayor Rob Ford spoke about the need to cut costs, saying salaries are a "big chunk" of the city's budget.

"We have too many employees down at city hall," he said."And we have to find ways of giving them packages to move on, or entice them to move on," he said.

"We just can't carry 53,000 employees any more. Our labour force is too big."

However, Coun. Janet Davis said offering buyouts is a premature move.

"I think theyve put the cart before the horse," she told CBC News. "Why would we be talking about exiting people out the back door before we even know what services are going to remain and what our human resource needs are?"