Mayor Rob Ford's record: A look at 5 of his biggest political battles

Mayor Rob Ford sits during a city council meeting at Toronto City Hall, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. (Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Even in the face of his admission that he's smoked crack cocaine in a "drunken stupor," many supporters of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford are standing by him, citing his record at city hall.

This past week Ford's loyal supporters – commonly referred to as the "Ford Nation" – touted to CTV Toronto the mayor's record on saving the taxpayers money and his willingness to take on the city's unions.

The mayor himself has taken to bragging about his cost-cutting record and efforts to stop "the gravy train." In his weekly radio program last Sunday, Ford said that in terms of fiscal policy: "I am the best mayor the city has had."

With the next mayoral election less than year away, and Ford saying he fully intends to run again despite the crack admission, here's a look at some of the things he's done since taking power in 2010.

1) Repealing taxes

One of the first issues Ford tackled after taking office was repealing a $60 vehicle registration tax.

Ford, who had promised to kill the unpopular tax during his 2010 election campaign, led the vote against it in December of that year.

The move saved taxpayers an estimated $64 million a year. At the time, Ford could not specify how he was planning on offsetting the lost revenue.

Ford has not been able to deliver on his promise to repeal the land transfer tax -- a tax levied to non-first time home buyers in the city of Toronto.

The mayor has said he plans to reduce the land transfer tax by 10 per cent in the city's upcoming budget, and will work to eventually eliminate it.

2) Contracting out garbage collection

After a strike in 2009 under former mayor David Miller that saw the halting of garbage collection for more than a month, Ford promised that once in power he’d privatize garbage pickup in the city.

After winning a key vote in 2011, Ford contracted out garbage collection for roughly 165,000 households west of Yonge Street.

At the time, city staff suggested that the plan could save the city between $8 million to $11 million a year, but the union disputed the math and suggested it would end up costing the city more in the long run.

Ford has said he will campaign on contracting out garbage collection for the rest of the city in next year's mayoral race.

3) Negotiations with unions

The TTC was made into an essential service in 2011, after Ford and city council asked the province for assent to make the change. As a declared essential service, it was made illegal for TTC workers to strike.

In early 2012, Ford negotiated four-year contracts with 6,000 city workers that saw the union make a number of concessions in the city's favour. While the move was celebrated by many of Ford's supporters, a number of councillors questioned the mayor's claim that the new contracts would save taxpayers up to $100 million.

4) Ending the 'war on cars'

Ford has long railed against bike lanes, once stating as a councillor that bike lanes are the equivalent of "swimming with the sharks," in that "sooner or later you're going to get bitten."

In 2012 painted bike lanes on Jarvis Street – a busy downtown corridor – were removed at a cost of $270,000.

However, fully-segregated bike lanes on the busy downtown Sherbourne Street were opened this past summer. The Sherbourne Street bike lanes – which are the city's first segregated lanes – cost $2.4 million, and are the first part of a larger network of dedicated bike lanes planned for Toronto.

5) 'Subways, subways, subways'

Perhaps Ford's biggest ‘win’ came in the last few months after Ottawa and the provincial government pledged funding for a subway expansion into Scarborough.

Ford, who had previously declared that the Toronto residents want "subways, subways, subways," fought against a fully-funded light-rail transit plan and pushed for a subway instead.

The subway plan will see a shorter and more expensive transit extension into the suburb, with Toronto, the province and the feds all contributing to the cost.

The Scarborough subway will cost approximately $2.5 billion, with the city on the hook for roughly $910 million. Despite previously stating that taxes were not required to fund subway extensions, Ford supported a property tax hike of 1.6 per cent over three years to help pay for the extension. Higher development charges are also slated to help cover the cost.

Ford celebrated in October after council voted for the subway plan, initially stating he'd do a "back flip" if he could. But opponents, including members of his executive, criticized the plan, stating that it involved too many unknowns and could result in cost overruns that the city would be responsible for.