The public has had their chance to sound off on the core service review but today councillors took the podium to discuss the pros and cons of the proposed service cuts.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has said the city will need to look for cuts in order to deal with the city's $774-million budget shortfall. Today's council session gave all elected members a chance to question the mayor on his intentions.

But before councillors had a chance to speak, Ford opened the meeting by explaining the need for certain cuts.

"Our growing debt is putting huge pressure on our financial foundation," Ford said. "We're looking for permanent changes that will eliminate our structural deficit.

"We're not looking for one time changes," he added. "Those fixes are not fixes at all. That is what got us here in the first place."

The debate started off with a heated exchange between the mayor and some left-leaning members of council who demanded specific numbers before having to vote on cuts. Many expressed concerns about cuts to emergency services such as the police and fire departments.

Ford did confirm that libraries will remain open, though the city could still see some branch hours reduced. Subsidized daycare will also be saved, as will snow removal and lawn maintenance.

The city will have to vote on whether to sell off city farms, the zoo, museums and three city-run theatres.

Ford reiterated his goal of saving money by privatizing garbage collection cutting the number of city employees. The mayor wouldn't be specific, however, when council members questioned how many of those job cuts would come from the police and fire departments.

Ford said he'd leave that decision to the police chief and repeated that every department has been asked to cut 10 per cent.

De-amalgamation

One councillor, Paula Fletcher, suggested that council vote on whether to ask the province if the city can de-amalgamate. Downtown Toronto and seven surrounding municipalities were amalgamated in 1998 to form a mega city.

She said when Toronto was divided, the smaller municipalities were not faced with the amount of service cuts they're now facing.

Ford responded by saying that he would welcome a report that would show how much it would cost the city to return to its pre-1998 borders. If the numbers are right, he said, he would back the change.

"If it didn't cost us a dime, I think everyone would agree let's go back," he said. "We had a surplus in Etobicoke when (fellow council member) Doug Holyday was mayor and it was fantastic."

Coun. Mike Del Grande told CP24 that Fletcher was merely "grandstanding" and that she and the rest of council should focus on the service cuts that are being debated.

Coun. Joe Mihevc said the issue is not whether the city should de-amalgamate or not. Rather, he said, it's more about the consequences of amalgamation, when the province downloaded the responsibility for services to the city.

Seeing that today's council session is meant to deal with the core service review, Fletcher's motion is expected to be ruled out of order.

The debate at council will likely continue until the end of the day tomorrow. Council is expected to deal with employee buyouts and user fees after voting on proposed service cuts.

Meanwhile, people are gathering outside city hall at 5:30 p.m. to protest proposed service cuts.

CP24.com will be live streaming the meeting at city hall on Tuesday, Sept. 27.