City Council approves balanced budget that invests in transit, housing and helps reduce poverty
Toronto City Council has approved a 2016 tax supported operating budget of $10.1 billion for 2016 and 10-year capital budget and plan of $21 billion. The 2016 budgets make significant investments in key strategic priorities for the city's future, including transit, alleviation of traffic congestion, support for public safety and poverty reduction.Overall, the 2016 budget tax increase after assessment growth is 0.88%, with a 1.3% increase for residential properties and a 0.43% increase for non-residential properties, in keeping with Council's tax policy to continue to reduce business taxes and taxes on rental apartment buildings in Toronto.Residents will pay an additional 0.6% to fund the Scarborough subway and as part of the City's overall strategy to enhance Toronto's business climate, there will be an additional increase of 0.78% for residential properties. Therefore, the total municipal tax increase is 2.69% or $72.26, which means the average house assessed at $549,586 will incur municipal property taxes of $2,748 for 2016. The total tax increase for non-residential properties, which includes rental apartments, is -0.17%.As a measure to further incent waste diversion (recycling and organics composting), the Solid Waste single family residential rebates have been reduced by approximately $1 per bag per month on all bin sizes with the exception of the small bin. As a result, small bin customers will pay $17.76 per year (increase of $7.13), medium bin customers will pay $115.38 per year (increase of $26.65), large bin customers will pay $295.14 per year (increase of $47.75) and extra-large bin customers will pay $411.23 per year (increase of $67.63), when factoring in the 3% rate increase approved by Council on December 9 and 10, 2015.The 2016 Operating Budget maintains all current programs and services and provides funding for new and enhanced services, including:
- $8 million to aid in reducing poverty, including the expansion of Homemakers and Nurses Services to meet the growing population of vulnerable residents, enhanced cold-weather drop-in services, expansion of the student nutrition program and additional funding for childcare subsidies
- $5.5 million to support the Mayor's Task Force on Community Housing with key investments to fund Door Access Systems, implement evening and weekend cleaning, pay for a cost relief program for rent-geared-to-income residents paying for electric heating and for the introduction of various social programs
- early Sunday morning subway, connecting bus and streetcar service and improved streetcar reliability
- additional seasonal inspectors of municipal construction to alleviate traffic disruption
- two new superintendents and 57 new paramedics to meet service demands from an aging population and 17 additional Fire Services staff for fire prevention, public education and inspections
- $5 million to support the Arts and Culture $25 per capita funding phase-in
City Council also approved a 2016-2025 tax supported Capital Budget and Plan of $21 billion, of which about 63% is being invested in Toronto's infrastructure state of good repair and 33% to service improvements and growth-related projects.The 10-year plan allocates the majority of funding to transit and Transportation Services ($15.8 billion or75%), with the balance of the funding allocated to:
- Parks, Forestry and Recreation - $1.2 billion (6%)
- Facilities, Real Estate, Environment and Energy - $1.1 billion (5%)
- Toronto Police Service - $558 million (3%)
More information about the City's budget and the budget process is available at http://www.toronto.ca/budget2016.
