Toronto Mayor Ford says the city should consider the sale of a number of publicly owned assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a bid to pay down the city's estimated $2.6-billion debt.
The proposal to sell assets is included in a staff report that will be considered by council's executive committee next Tuesday.
The report suggests the city sell a 10 per cent stake in Toronto Hydro, and all of the city's 43 per cent share of the Enwave Corporation, which draws water from Lake Ontario to cool a number of large downtown buildings in the summer.
In addition, the report suggests some of the city's real estate holdings be sold. In total, some $600 million can be generated to pay down the debt, staff estimate. That would save the city $65 million in interest payments in its annual operating budget for the next 10 years, although that benefit will be offset by an expected loss of $10 million annually, staff projects.
The sale of the 10 per cent portion of Toronto Hydro does not have "significant downside," staff say, although the report notes dividends would be reduced "slightly."
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