8 key details in the 2015 Toronto budget

Thestar.com
Jan. 20, 2015

Here are the key details of Mayor John Tory’s first budget, proposed Tuesday morning:

1. Property taxes to rise 2.75 per cent. That includes today’s 2.25 per cent and the previous 0.5 per cent tax increase to fund the Scarborough subway.

2. Transit and transportation are a large part of the $1.5 billion in capital investments: that includes $433 million for repairing the Gardiner Expressway and $762 million to buying 60 new subway cars and 810 buses.

3. TTC changes announced Monday: children 12 and under ride free, 50 new buses, new express and overnight services.

4. Another 181 shelter beds for the homeless as part of a $7.9 million increase in “poverty reduction” spending.
5. Emergency Medical Services would get 58 new positions, including 56 paramedics.

6. New or expanded facilities (four new or repurposed fire stations, one new child-care centre, 13 new or expanded community centres, new McNicoll Bus Garage).

7. A cut in garbage subsidy would generate $18 million a year and cost homeowners with small bins an extra 29 cents.

8. $500,000 to plant new trees or replace ones destroyed by the December 2013 ice storm.