Toronto budget committee approves increases to water, garbage fees
The increase for waste collection is lower than city staff recommended, adding an additional $4.8 million in budget pressure annually.

thestar.com
By Jennifer Pagliaro
Nov. 18, 2016

The city’s budget committee has approved increases to both water rates and waste collection fees.

But Mayor John Tory’s budget chief Gary Crawford moved to lower the increase for waste collection, adding an additional $4.8 million in pressure annually - what critics say only continues to put off tough budgeting decisions to a later date.

While staff proposed an increase of 5.2 per cent in collection fees for single family homes, Crawford moved the increase should only be 2 per cent, what is below 2017’s anticipated rate of inflation. Budget committee approved the lower rate.

Crawford said it’s a move that’s still sustainable within the city’s budget.

“Yes there is an impact because we’ll be collecting less,” Crawford said. “From my perspective it was ensuring affordability for the residents. I felt comfortable that with the reduction from 5.2 (per cent) to 2 (per cent), (staff) would be able to do some readjustments.”

Final approval is up to council, which will vote on the increases in December.

City staff told committee the lower rate was financially feasible but would require fewer contributions to reserves than planned. The recommended long-term direction for the solid waste division looked to decrease the city’s debt load, creating a “more sustainable and stable utility.” Staff said lowering rate would essentially do the opposite.

City manager Peter Wallace earlier warned council it is no longer feasible to “kick the can down the road” on making long-term financial decisions - what requires new sources of revenue from increased taxes or fees.

As the cost to provide even the same level of city services increases, putting significant pressures on city hall staff to balance the books, Wallace has recommended against short-term solutions such as drawing on reserve funds, for the 2017 budget.

But he has plainly acknowledged that council isn’t yet prepared to raise property taxes or introduce new taxes for next year, meaning those kinds of short-term fixes will still be necessary.

“That is the world I work in, that is the council I serve,” Wallace said in a speech last month.

Council critics say not making those necessary choices today only delays the inevitable.

“We’ve been going under inflation on waste for so long, I think everyone realizes the piggy bank is running out,” said Councillor Mike Layton, who also sits on budget committee. “What we’ve done essentially is push it off to another day.”

Under the staff-recommended 5.2 per cent increase for single-family garbage collection, fees would have increased by $12.73 for small bins; $15.45 for medium; $20.98 for large; and $24.34 for extra-large.

Under Crawford’s committee-approved 2 per cent increase for the same collection, fees would increase by $4.90 for small bins; $5.94 for medium bins; $8.07 for large; and $9.37 for extra-large.

Committee approved the staff-recommended water-rate increase that would bump the average residential bill from $914 a year in 2016 to $960 in 2017.