Toronto’s financial mandarins are preparing a budget proposal that almost certainly will not meet embattled Mayor Rob Ford’s vow to hold next year’s property tax increase at 1.75%, his budget chief says.

“There are certain demands that you have to meet and the numbers don’t lie. You have to fund those demands,” said Mr. Di Giorgio on Wednesday.

He seems prepared for Mayor Ford to cast a budget that misses his tax target as proof of what happens when he is not at the helm. Mr. Di Giorgio insists it will still be true to a fiscal conservative agenda and it isn’t evidence of a leftist coup at city hall, as some have suggested. “Not yet,” he added wryly. “Where we end up could be something else.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/11/20/toronto-budget-to-include-higher-tax-increases-than-mayor-ford-promised-before-he-lost-most-of-his-powers/