Toronto's 2014 Operating Budget: Highlights
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Toronto’s 2014 Operating Budget: Highlights

Key facts and figures from Toronto's draft budget.

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Toronto’s draft annual budget was unveiled at City Hall on Monday, and for all Rob Ford’s bluster about revolutionizing things for taxpayers, it is characterized by a distinctly more-of-the-same feel. There is a property tax increase that is higher than the mayor wants but which the budget chief he appointed and the City staff who largely put this document together agree is necessary to keep the books balanced. There are minimal new services, and most departments’ budgets are flatlined, but the police budget is going up three per cent, and there’s a big chunk of money that we need to start collecting to pay for the Scarborough subway. Toronto’s property tax increase remains below the rate of inflation, and remains the lowest in the GTA.

Before staff delved into the details, Ford proclaimed: “In just one short week, my powers were reduced, and we can all see the old ways coming back, of taxing and spending at City Hall.” This budget, of course, was not rewritten in the past week; it’s the product of months of work. It is also a draft: members of the public will have a chance to share their views on it, and councillors to debate it and propose revisions, before it is voted on. Ford said that he would be “continuing to speak to the city manager and budget chief to bring this number down.” He did not, however, specify how exactly he would like to do so.

Here are some key figures from the draft 2014 budget:

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Holding steady—continuing to do exactly what the municipal government is already doing—will force a 0.9% property tax increase, due to inflation.
  • The Scarborough subway forces a 0.3% property tax increase across both the residential and non-residential tax bases. For residential tax, the increase is 0.5%.
  • In 2014, the total blended property tax increase (i.e. the average including both residential and non-residential rates) is slated to be 1.6%: a 2.5% residential increase, and a 0.8% non-residential increase.
  • On average, this works out to an increase of $64 per household: $28 to hold the line on services; $23 for new stuff (more on that below); and $13 for the Scarborough subway.
  • For reference: each 0.25% residential property tax increase works out to about $6 million total new revenue for the City, and a $6 tax increase per household.
  • Toronto’s property tax increase, on average, remains below the rate of inflation, which is projected to be 2.2%.
  • Since 2005, 90 per cent of growth in net expenditures has gone to police, fire, EMS, and TTC.
  • Across the GTA, the average municipal tax bill is $4,370. According to this new budget, in Toronto it will be $3,274.
  • The books continue to be balanced with the help of the land transfer tax. Rob Ford wanted to cut it by 10 per cent this year, but the draft budget includes no such reduction. (A 10 per cent reduction in the land transfer tax would be equivalent to a 1.4% increase in the residential property tax rate.)
  • “The property tax base just does not grow with inflation,” City staff commented today, reminding councillors that the growth in that tax base is roughly one per cent a year, and inflation is over two per cent—this is why the municipal budget is under pressure each year.
  • The projected opening pressure (the difference between how much it costs to maintain services and the existing revenue stream) is $331 million in 2015, and $202 million in 2016. That is after figuring in a two per cent residential property tax increase each of those years, and also figuring in a 10-cent TTC fare hike each of those years. (That’s what the new council will come into after next fall’s election.)

KEY SERVICE INCREASES

  • Three new police recruit classes ($29.1 million)
  • TTC costs for ridership growth, increased maintenance, legislated accessibility service increases, and more, for a total of $43 million in increased spending, offset largely by fare increases. (Remaining impact: $13.1 million)
  • 56 new paramedics ($3.1 million)
  • Transportation staff and improvements, such as real-time signal timing changes and additional traffic camera monitoring ($1.6 million)

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