Toronto saves $800,000 from contracting-out building cleaning — far less than promised

Toronto saves $800,000 from contracting-out building cleaning — far less than promised

Paul Moloney – Toronto Star

The amount Toronto taxpayers will save by contracting-out cleaning at police facilities will be less than a third of the original estimates.

Instead of saving $2.5 million a year, budget papers indicate the annual savings will be only about $800,000.

The city has pondered putting cleaning services out for contract for years, but council didn’t go along with the idea until last year, after Mayor Rob Ford was elected and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, vowed to outsource anything that wasn’t nailed down.

Under the Ford administration, garbage pick-up west of Yonge St. and TTC bus cleaning have also been outsourced.

The savings on the police contract fall “wildly short of the $2.5 million that was predicted,” said Councillor Pam McConnell, who opposed extending the contract.

The $2.5-million figure was extrapolated from a private-sector quote in 2003 to clean four police buildings: police headquarters and three stations.

If applied to all police buildings, the savings would come to $2.5 million annually, then-chief Julian Fantino said in a report to city council.

Fantino said the police service had no problem with contract cleaning and was ready to proceed. But the issue languished until after Ford’s election in October 2010.

Full article: Toronto Star