Tory asks province to help bail out $1.5B city deficit, mulls over tolls
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Mayor John Tory is mulling over the idea of tolls while asking the province to help Toronto with its $1.5-billion expected year-end deficit.
Tory made the comments Monday as part of the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s “Restarting Toronto” series, when asked what kind of fiscal measures the city is looking at to get out of the red.
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He said while he’s contemplating charging tolls again, he doesn’t foresee a property tax hike.
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“We are going to need to find ways to fund the continued services and infrastructure of the region,” he said.
“I would be happy to bring the tolling question back. I never really have with the current government because they were one of the parties that fought it. I did take note of the premier saying a few weeks ago that there was no guarantee that taxes wouldn’t be raised before his administration came to an end this terms. So maybe these are the kinds of extraordinary things we’re going to have to look at.”
While he said he wasn’t thinking of increasing property taxes — because “what is the point of doing that to people who are struggling to get back to in business or work” or force major service cuts, tolls may be a possibility.
At the beginning of the pandemic in mid-March, the city announced it would be deferring property tax, water and solid waste bill payments for 60 days to help those who may be struggling financially because of COVID-19.
But that time is now up.
“We can’t run an operating deficit,” he said.
“We need the province to respond now, because municipalities are the responsibility of the provincial government. It is meant to replace the operating revenue we have lost, which will be about $1.5B by the end of the year, or $65 million a week and $20 million to $25 million lost revenue from transit and then there’s land transfer tax revenue and a host of other things that we’re just not taking in while the economy is shut down.”
Tory said since then, the city looked for ways that small businesses could stay afloat, “instead of handing out money we didn’t have.” That included working with the province and reducing the number of permits to open a restaurant, for example, from 44 to 17 and allow businesses to apply for them online to expedite things.
Announced last week, the city’s CafeTO patio plan will let businesses earn money while continuing to adhere to social distancing guidelines, Tory added.
The mayor is also asking businesses and employers to continue to get employees to work from home “for a period of time” as businesses safely re-open to reduce strain on transit and childcare.
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