John Tory is marking his first 100 days as Toronto’s mayor, and as he explained at a morning news conference, he loves the job!

“It was the most fun you could have with your clothes on,” Tory joked and then went on to say, “this is a very interesting job.  Lots of parts of it are fun, other parts of it are hard work, but I think most people hopefully would describe their jobs that way and would say, sometimes I have fun and sometimes it’s hard work, but overall it’s a very interesting job and I repeat what I said at the very beginning, it’s a privilege to have.”

Mayor Tory held a news conference ahead of today’s council meeting when his first budget will be debated.  Tory made no apology for the proposed increase to garbage rates, which adds about $7 a month for homes with a large garbage bin.

“There’s a huge cost involved for the city in collecting and looking after the garbage.  It isn’t just picking it up, it’s taking it somewhere and having it dealt with, and we want to make sure that people understand and are reflecting on that cost and at the same time, they’re doing whatever they can to modify their own behaviour, Tory explained.

There is a lot of harmony on Toronto City Council over the proposed budget.  But there is some dissension.  Former mayor and now city councillor Rob Ford says the extra garbage fee means an additional .75 percent property tax hike.

Tory’s budget also includes a plan to borrow from the city’s capital budget to balance the operating side of the ledger in the face of an $86 million provincial funding shortfall.

Councillor Gord Perks is against the borrowing plan and instead will bring a motion to raise taxes by a total of 5.6 percent, rather than the proposed 2.75 percent.