Toronto council approves 2 per cent property tax increase

But some councillors worry the budget impacts too much on the city’s vulnerable residents.

Thestar.com
Feb. 15, 2017
By Jennifer Pagliaro

With council poised to approve a budget Mayor John Tory said kept property taxes at “reasonable” rates, critics said they would have trouble sleeping with cuts impacting the city’s most vulnerable.

A council meeting went late Wednesday night as members debated a budget some called “fair” and others contended was “unsustainable.”

Council did earlier approve a residential property tax rate hike that totals 3.29 per cent, or $90 extra for the average homeowner.

An attempt to prevent the elimination of 10 front-line shelter staff positions - at a time when those havens are exceeding capacity targets and those who rely on them struggle to find more permanent housing - failed 19-25. The mayor and all but one of his executive members voted against it.

Councillor Joe Cressy moved a motion that council keep the 10 frontline positions, by voting to increase the 2017 operating budget for shelter, support and housing administration by just over $1 million, by pulling funding from a property tax stabilization reserve fund.

“The shelter system in our city serves some of our most vulnerable residents. These are people who far too many of them are fleeing abuse, these are people far too many of them who are living with mental health issues, who are living with addictions, who are there because often there is nowhere else to go,” Cressy said. “Let’s not balance this budget on the backs of the most vulnerable.”

Tory planned to support a motion asking staff to report back on the “true” service level impact, saying he believed it would be “minimal.”

“I have confidence in our professional public servants and I can’t believe they would even put in front of us for consideration, no matter what direction they’d been given by us, any recommendation that they thought could lead to that consequence that you’ve talked about,” Tory said in response to criticism the cuts could hurt the city’s most vulnerable.

The positions would be lost through attrition - when the current staff retire or leave.

Five of the jobs, council heard earlier in the night, would come from one of the ten city run shelters, which serve about 1,500 people. The remaining 49 shelters, council heard, in the city are run by community agencies. The entire system, including hotel beds, has room for about 4,600 people, according to city data.

“The impact of this is there will be less hands to do this very important work, is that fair enough to say that?” asked Councillor Pam McConnell, who has led the city’s poverty reduction initiative, earlier in the night. Paul Raftis, general manager of the city’s shelter, support and housing administration division, said that description was fair. He noted it would be a relatively “minor” impact on service.

Earlier on Wednesday, council approved a residential property tax increase for 2017 just below the rate of inflation.

The 2 per cent increase required to help balance this year’s budget, when adjusted to include a new special levy for capital projects and the provincial education tax, totals 3.29 per cent.

That increase will cost the average homeowner, with property assessed at $587,471, an extra $90 in 2017 and a total $2,835 on their bill.

Council rejected two separate motions - one that would have flatlined property taxes and another that would have raised them above the rate of inflation.

A motion from Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, who has positioned himself as enemy number one to the mayor in recent months, for a 0 per cent increase failed 2-40. Only Etobicoke Councillor Stephen Holyday supported him.

Councillor Gord Perks, who has long argued that residents can afford to pay more to help the city’s most vulnerable, put forward a 4.26 per cent increase. That motion failed 10-32.

“What I am proposing is that we ask those people in the city of Toronto who have the most wealth to put more money back into the system and the reason I want to do that is so that we can afford the programs that help the people who truly are struggling to live in the City of Toronto,” Perks told his colleagues on the council floor.

His motion would have meant the average homeowner would see their taxes increase by $152.50 this year instead of the approved $90.

“I am proud of city council’s decision to keep Toronto property tax increases below the rate of inflation,” said a prepared statement from Tory’s office after the tax rates vote. “The single biggest cheque most families write to the city is for their property tax bill. I was elected on a mandate to keep property tax increases at or below the rate of inflation and I will keep that promise.”

Councillor Mike Layton, who moved to reverse above-inflation increases to user fees for recreation programs for youth and seniors, noted the mayor had set a benchmark of being able to sleep soundly after finalizing this budget.

“I can tell you with cuts to shelters, cuts to long-term care, I’m going to be thinking of those people tonight when I try to go to sleep,” Layton said Wednesday night.

Motions from councillors also sought to reverse cuts to mandatory training for long-term care home homes staff and delay closure of a child-care centre.

A motion from the newest executive member Councillor Jon Burnside asked for funding of two youth hubs and increased programming for existing hubs in four other library locations. That $387,000 is for a program that is part of the city’s poverty reduction strategy, which Tory earlier promised to fully fund.

Those votes were still pending before deadline.

“I think we will approve a budget that is status quo,” said Councillor Ana Bailao on the council floor, noting other levels of government needed to come to the table to help with the city’s most pressing needs, such as $1.7 billion in unfunded repairs to social housing.

“What we have in front of us is a fight for a future of this city.”