Latest news with #cityservices
New York Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
D.C. Mayor Unveils Budget Plan Aimed at Easing Pain of Congressional Cuts
After waiting nearly three months for Congress to fix what even many of its own members agreed was a mistake that left Washington facing a surprise $1.1 billion budget cut, city officials announced on Tuesday a plan to deal with the sizable shortfall on its own. At an public budget presentation, Mayor Muriel Bowser said that her administration would not need to lay off workers or make substantial cuts to municipal services, as the city had feared might be necessary. Instead, local officials were able to use a 2009 federal budgeting law to boost this year's spending by hundreds of millions of dollars. They closed the rest of the gap by temporarily freezing new hiring and making piecemeal cuts to the 'thousands' of contracts, grants and other expenditures across dozens of city agencies. 'We have really blunted what could have been a catastrophic situation for city services this summer,' Ms. Bowser said. The plan, which still needs to be approved by the City Council, addresses a question that has been looming over the city for weeks. On March 8, the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled a resolution to temporarily fund the federal government while mandating a federal spending freeze. Though the District of Columbia's budget has to be approved by Congress, such resolutions have for decades exempted the city from spending freezes, since the money it spends on services comes from locally raised taxes, not federal funds. But that carve out was not in the House's resolution, suddenly saddling D.C. with a $1.1 billion shortfall with the fiscal year already half over. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill allowing D.C. to keep operating according to its current budget, a measure that President Trump explicitly endorsed. But the House needed to approve the bill and in the weeks that followed nothing happened, besides some talk from right-wing lawmakers about possible amendments on unrelated issues like bans on abortion funding or reparation payments to Black residents. In mid-April, the mayor announced that the city was going to address most of the shortfall by invoking a 2009 federal law that gives the city the authority to increase its appropriated funding by up to 6 percent. That provided significant budgetary breathing room for the rest of the current fiscal year and on Tuesday, officials outlined how they would close the remaining gap. Some payments would be pushed into the next fiscal year, which begins in October; some debt would be refinanced; open positions would temporarily go unfilled; and certain individual programs would face cuts. The mayor made clear, however, that the city was still urging Congress to restore its ability to spend according to its initial budget. 'This is still a matter of the autonomy of the district's budget,' she said, 'so we will continue to work on that.' While the city may have averted the immediate crisis, the larger fiscal threat remains — namely, an administration that is hostile to the federal bureaucracy, the city's largest employer. Mass layoffs of federal workers have lowered the city's revenue estimates by more than $1 billion over the next three years and has prompted the ratings firm Moody's to downgrade the city's credit rating. Repeatedly citing these challenges, the mayor said that her budget proposals for the years ahead were designed to 'shift our economy from one that is so reliant on federal jobs to one that is more reliant on growing private sector investment and jobs.' These proposals include tens of millions in spending reductions to programs and services, paired with substantial expenditures and policy changes aimed at attracting jobs outside of government, in areas like tech, entertainment and sports.
CTV News
23-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
City of Ottawa robocalling residents about water bills in event of Canada Post disruption
The City of Ottawa says it has been reaching out to residents asking them to register for paperless billing to avoid late payments for services in case of Canada Post service disruptions. In a statement to CTV News Ottawa Friday, the city said it has been 'proactively' contacting residents through automated phone messaging and other communication methods. 'With the possibility of a Canada Post service disruption, residents and businesses could experience a delay in city paper billing, invoices and other paper notifications,' said Joseph Muhuni, the city's deputy treasurer of revenue. 'Despite any postal service interruptions, water utility bills will continue to be issued, and payment due dates will remain unchanged.' More than 75 per cent of properties are registered online and have access to their bills through the MyService Ottawa portal, he says. All residents have received the 2025 final property tax bills, which were sent by mail on May 12, Muhuni says. The city says more than 95 per cent of tax and water payments are made electronically. To register for paperless billing, visit your MyService Ottawa account, or call Revenue Services at 613-580-2444 for assistance account balances and payment options. Access to city services, programs During a postal service disruption, mail delivery of Presto Cards will be unavailable, the city says on its website. Transit riders are asked to buy their cards at ticket machines, the Rideau Centre Customer Service Centre and participating Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore locations, reads the website. The most up-to-date information about the city's Employment and Social services can be accessed in this link: Residents who use the city's Rent Supplement and Housing Allowance programs can access the newest information on - Subsidized housing. More information about postal disruptions is available here: Though a big disruption was averted after the union representing over 55,000 workers backed down from a strike threat Friday, Canada Post customers may face delays as workers swear off overtime shifts. With files from The Canadian Press
Irish Times
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
U-turn on Grafton Street toilets as council reverses ‘ludicrous' closure plan
Dublin City Council has reversed plans to remove the city centre's last public toilets following opposition from all city councillors, who described the move as 'ludicrous' and 'abhorrent'. The council had planned to shut down the toilets installed five years ago at the top of Grafton Street , citing reduced demand. It had been spending almost €400,000 a year to operate the toilets, put at the St Stephen's Green end of Grafton Street during the Covid-19 pandemic. The current owner and operator of the toilets was going out of business and the council said it would draw up proposals for replacement toilets, but these were not expected to be in place until summer of 2026. Green Party councillor Claire Byrne, at a council meeting on Monday, said the 'ongoing failure of this city to provide basic services to meet a basic human right' was 'abhorrent'. The council had had five years to procure alternative toilets, she said, but had also been discussing the issue since before she was elected in 2014. READ MORE 'Very little, next to nothing, has been done, yet we were happy spending €400,000 a year for this unit and not looking for a long-term solution.' There was, she said, a 'very clear demand, every single person needs to pee'. Her Green Party colleague Hazel Chu said that when she was lord mayor she let people use the toilet in the Mansion House. The council should open up public buildings with toilets for the public to use, she said. Social Democrats councillor Catherine Stocker said it was 'ludicrous and exhausting this most basic and simple of things cannot be sorted by Dublin City Council'. Independent councillor Mannix Flynn pointed out that public toilets had been part of the original contract with advertising company JC Decaux for the Dublinbikes scheme, 'but somewhere along the line an official in this council took that stipulation out of the contract'. Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said it was a 'fundamental responsibility of a city or county council to provide toilets'. He noted that toilets had been included in countless council budgets but not implemented due to insufficient funds. 'Nearly €2 million has been spent on this one toilet,' he said. 'People are laughing at Dublin city over this.' [ Dublin city centre's only public toilets to be closed Opens in new window ] Derek Kelly, director of service with the council, told councillors officials had 'worked out a solution' over the weekend to keep the Grafton Street facility open 'while in tandem we try to develop and finalise an ongoing solution for toilets within the city centre'. The current operator 'is liquidating, that has pushed the situation, they want to cease the service', he said. However, the council would see if it could persuade the company to continue until replacement toilets were in place next year, and if not, would buy the toilets and appoint a new operator, Mr Kelly said. The council had initially opened toilets at two locations in 2020, the second at Wolfe Tone Square on the city's northside. The northside toilets were subsequently relocated to Ryder's Row off Capel Street but were decommissioned in 2022, with the council citing 'complaints of antisocial behaviour in the area and low usage'.
CBS News
07-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Crumbling water main leaves people in a Pleasanton neighborhood high and dry
Last week a group of homeowners in Pleasanton had their water cut off by the city. They're locked in a battle over who should pay to replace a crumbling water main and, in the meantime, neighbors have found a creative way of helping each other out. In the middle of Pleasanton is a small neighborhood known as the Remen Tract that, years ago, refused to be annexed into the city. Rick Hempy lives there and said that's what's behind the disagreement over the neighborhood's water pipes. "These lines that are in here were put in in 1950--two-inch steel lines--and they are disintegrating," he said. "And the city of Pleasanton used to come out here and fix them. But now they're saying, 'you're on your own. Because you're in the county, even though you get city services--water, sewer, police, fire--we don't care!'" In August, a water main started leaking and when the city came out to fix it, they discovered that the whole thing needed to be replaced. They rigged up a temporary supply line using fire hoses connected to a hydrant. But the city says they will not be replacing the permanent line. In a statement, Communications Manager Heather Tiernan said, "The water system within Remen Tract is privately owned, and just as the City does not maintain individual property owners' water lines, it cannot maintain the private water lines within the Remen Tract." Needless to say, the homeowners disagreed. "This is the city of Pleasanton service territory for this municipal utility," said homeowner Rob Schurhoff, "and anything on their side of the meter is their responsibility. It's in the Pleasanton municipal code. So, it's cut and dried as far as I'm concerned." So, the fire hoses remained in place and that's how things stayed for 9 about five days ago. "So, yeah, I was really surprised when I was on the phone and, like, eight trucks came out here and removed the temporary hoses in less than five minutes and took off. I think they thought we might have an uprising or something, I don't know!" said Schurhoff. "And for them to come out and just unhook the water...I think it's criminal!" said Hempy. So, how many houses are without water? "Six," he said. "They're stuck!" Well, not really. Because the neighbors are helping each other out. Hoses have been extended from one house to another to supply the six who were left high and dry. "Yeah, we had to rig this up because I couldn't flush my toilet or anything," said Schurhoff, with a laugh. And Hempy said the effort to create their own jerry-rigged water system has only brought the neighborhood closer together. "That hose is coming from a rental way over there,' said Hempy. "So, it's going through three yards and coming over here to take care of these three houses! Now that's nice neighbors. That's good people." The neighbors estimate it could cost them about $6,000 each to replace the line. But they say Pleasanton charges them the same water rates as any other municipal customer and they expect the city to repair the broken line. So far, there is no resolution in sight. The neighbors believe city officials are just trying to wash their hands of the problem. Although they may have to go to another block to find the water to do that.
CTV News
06-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Transit advocates speak out after several streetcars to be diverted due to construction
Transit advocates speak out after several streetcars to be diverted due to construction Work will affect some downtown routes will be affected until early September.
