York Region may raise taxes for transit, affordable housing beginning in 2017
Yorkregion.com
Dec. 10, 2015
By Lisa Queen
On the heels of a pitch by Toronto Mayor John Tory to boost city property taxes to pay for transit and social housing, York Region chairperson Wayne Emmerson suggests councillors here may want to consider a similar tax hike.
Toronto could raise up to $70 million a year by increasing taxes by an additional 2.5 per cent over five years, beginning in 2017, Tory said.
The “city building” tax would add about $13 to the average property tax bill in its first year, growing to about $63 when it is fully implemented.
Emmerson floated the idea of a similar tax increase in York at a regional budget meeting last Thursday.
“Mayor Tory has taken the lead on adding 2.5 per cent in 2017 for roads and housing and I think this council started off this term saying the two most important items that we are looking at (during this term of council) are roads and housing. So, I think it’s food for thought,” he said.
“It’s something we may have to look at in the near future, but, at this point, this budget is struck at 2.85 per cent.”
Council is expected to approve a 2.85-per-cent tax increase as early as Dec. 17, which would add $63 for the average household, which has an assessed value of $547,000.
The average household now pays $2,223.19 in regional property taxes.
Thursday’s budget meeting included proposed spending on transportation initiatives, with roads and transit projects eating up the single largest share of the region’s capital budget at 44 per cent.
If approved, the region will spend almost $1 billion on transportation capital projects during this term of council, commissioner Daniel Kostopoulos said.
The region expects to spend $967 million on the projects over the four-year term, including $167 million in 2015, $213 million in 2016, $311 million in 2017 and $276 million in 2018.
That is 59.6 per cent more than the $606 million spent on roads and transit projects in the last term of council from 2011 to 2014.
Residents identify traffic as their top regional concern, Kostopoulos said.
“Traffic congestion does make travel time unpredictable, often more than doubling the travel time during those (busy) times and that’s frustrating,” he said.
Capital projects to be completed over the next 10 years would include $115 million to replace 108 Viva transit buses and $62 million for 46 Viva expansion buses, $103 million to replace 195 conventional transit buses and $62 million for 111 conventional expansion buses, a number of road widenings including Rutherford Road from Jane to Bathurst streets, 16th Avenue from Yonge Street to Woodbine Avenue, Leslie Street and St. John’s Sideroad, Bathurst from north of Hwy. 7 to Elgin Mills Road, McCowan Road from Steeles Avenue to 16th, Langstaff Road from Keele Street to Hwy. 7 and new east-west routes crossing Hwy. 404 north of 16th and north of Elgin Mills.
Some projects have been added or advanced on the 10-year capital plan while others on the list have been deferred.
Markham will be disappointed with the long delay of the Don Cousens Parkway extension, Markham Councillor Jim Jones suggested.
“This is the second deferral of the Don Cousens Parkway. I think we were going to deliver it in 2015 and it was deferred to ’18 and now we’re deferring it to ’26. Does Markham agree with that?” he asked.
Faced with financial constraints, the region has to steer its funding to the highest needs projects, Kostopoulos said.
“It is my expectation that Markham doesn’t agree with this, as most municipalities don’t support deferrals of projects in their municipalities,” he said.
“Some tough decisions had to be made in terms of how much we are able to deliver within the available funding and, operationally, (the parkway) is not an area that experiences problems with congestion compared to many of the more urgent need areas we have today. It is important in supporting growth and staff do support delivering this project, but this was a determination as recommended by staff.”
