Toronto councillors voted to cut their office expense budgets from $50,445 to $30,000 with a vote of 40-5 on Thursday, Dec. 16, evening.
Councillors didn't take long to approve the cut to their own budgets - a move that reflected one of Mayor Rob Ford's major campaign themes.
Ford had promised to cut councillors' discretionary budget to "stop the gravy train" - often referring to a $13,000 retirement party outgoing Toronto Centre-Rosedale Councillor Kyle Rae paid for from his own office budget.
"That infuriated a lot of people and I heard that throughout the campaign," Ford said.
"What I said and this was a campaign promise - if I'm fortunate enough to be mayor, I'm going to reduce it (office budget) to a reasonable number and I truly believe that $30,000 is more than enough money to run your office and take care of your constituents."
He pointed out the $20,000 reduction would yield a $900,000 savings, assuming all 44 councillors spent all of their office budgets each year, which they typically do not.
The decision Thursday only reflects the gross budget available to councillors.
Later next year, Ford and Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday will come up with a new set of guidelines as to what is and is not an acceptable expense for councillors to charge to their office budgets.