The December 2016 Toronto Executive Committee Liveblog: Revenue Tools Edition
Also on the agenda: ranked ballots and poverty reduction.
Photo by Himy Syed from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
It’s December 1, which means it’s time for egg nog, Mariah Carey Christmas music, latkes, and City budget-related debates. Today’s Executive Committee brings an extra special debate, the long awaited City of Toronto Long-Term Financial Direction Update [EX 20.1].
Basically, the City’s structural funding model is broken. Toronto doesn’t have the revenue to cover all of its needs, both operating and when it comes to capital projects like building new transit. John Tory has somewhat surprisingly come out in favour of road tolls on the Gardiner and DVP, which would be implemented in eight years and generate around $200 million. That sounds like a lot, but it would only generate enough money over 10 years to cover the cost of repairing the Gardiner, which just increased in its projected cost by $1 billion.
We’ll follow along with Exec as they debate these big issues. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments.
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