The first version of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow’s budget for this year will include a proposed 6.9 per cent tax hike for homeowners, the city’s budget chief said Monday morning.
That includes a 5.4 per cent property tax increase and the annual 1.5 per cent “city building levy,” Coun. Shelley Carroll said at a news conference alongside Chow.
Chow said it would amount to an additional $5.50 per week for the average homeowner in the city.
The proposed increase comes on the heels of last year’s historic 9.5 per cent property tax hike, the highest in decades, that was partly used to close a $1.8-billion budget hole.
This year’s “opening pressure” — the money needed to maintain services at existing levels — is roughly $1.2 billion.
The city is required by Ontario law to present a balanced budget by the time council finalizes it in February, the municipality cannot run a deficit.
Chow and city staff will release the full details of the proposed budget later this morning.
Here’s what we already know about the budget
The average Toronto taxpayer should be budgeting about $50 more for their water and garbage bills after council approved a 3.75 per cent increase to those rates.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Police Services Board has approved its 2025 budget proposal, with an additional $46.2 million set to go to the force this year.
The Toronto Transit Commission’s board has also presented an operating budget that freezes fares for a second straight year and includes millions to run the Eglinton and Finch LRT lines — both of which are set to open by July and August, according to the budget.
Cash to fight congestion
Last week, Chow said the city will spend $3 million to hire more traffic agents, who are deployed across the city’s busiest intersections to maintain the flow of traffic and prevent irksome violations like “blocking the box.”
“Anywhere there’s traffic jams, you can expect to see them,” Chow said at a news conference Thursday.
Public consultations started last October
The city ran a series of consultations about this year’s budget last October — both in-person and online — and also launched a survey.
We’ll see how much of that input features in Monday’s document.
Remember, the budget presented Monday is just the first iteration. Councillors will have a chance to make changes in the coming weeks (last year, for example, city staff floated a higher tax hike on day one, which was dialled back.)
More to come.