Mayor Tory marks 100 days in office with major test as budget goes to council

As he marked his first 100 days in office on Tuesday, Mayor John Tory faced one of his first major tests: get this year’s budget approved.

The process was off to a rocky start with protestors disrupting the first few minutes of city council’s meeting, forcing the group to adjourn for five minutes.

Watch a live stream of the council meeting CityNews.ca and 680News.com.

Click here to read the agenda.

Earlier this month, the budget received unanimous approval from Tory’s executive committee. At that meeting, the mayor said putting the budget together was a “balancing act” — keeping property taxes low while also investing in the city.

Ahead of the city council meeting, Coun. Rob Ford called out the budget proposal to raise rates for garbage bins, saying it puts an unfair burden on taxpayers “by forcing them to pay twice for the same service.”

In a statement Ford called on council to reject the Solid Waste Management Services and Recommended 2015 Solid Waste Rates item in the budget.

“I am expecting there will be healthy debate at the city council among all 45 members, including me,” Tory said ahead of the meeting when asked if he and Ford would have a showdown over the proposed rate increase.

Tory maintains the rate increase is necessary to incentivize waste diversion. He also argues homeowners could actually save money — if they downsize their bins.

“I am expecting that people will reflect on the fact that the cost paid by people in respect to their garbage service, through the rates and the bin charges, does not fully recover the cost of service,” Tory explained.

The increase would bring an extra $18 million to the city, which has some city councillors backing the plan.

“We’re trying to encourage some people to go from a large bin down to a medium bin, medium bin down to a small bin,” said Coun. Gary Crawford. “If you can achieve that, in fact, you’re going to be saving money.”

One of the most contentious issues of this budget was the property tax increase.

Tory’s plan called for a 3.2 per cent hike, which works out to around $83 for the average home.

During the debate, several councillors said they felt the city needs a higher tax rate.

“We are, with this budget, putting our head in the sand,” said Coun. Janet Davis. “If we don’t make a decision to raise taxes at or above the rate of inflation, we’ve lost 15 per cent over 15 years.”

But Tory disagreed and fought for council to pass his existing plan.

“We can’t take the easy way out. It’s not reality,” the mayor said. “The people sent us here with a clear mandate on property taxes to limit increases to at or below the rate of inflation. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Council eventually voted 36 to 8 to set the tax rate at 3.2 per cent – which includes a 0.5 per cent subway tax.

City council also voted in favour of an eight per cent increase in water rates. Earlier this month, city staff estimated they will be $4-7 million over budget for water this year due to unscheduled maintenance costs caused by the frigid winter.

Another controversial proposal would see the city borrow money from its reserve funds in order to cover an $86-million shortfall.

Last Friday, Tory said he’s “furious” that the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension, which will run from Line 1 (University-Spadina) through York University and up to Vaughan, is behind schedule and significantly over budget.

The extension was originally pegged at $1.5 billion and later jumped to $2.5 billion. In a report, the Toronto Star said the latest cost overrun is about $400 million.

In any event Tory was adamant the work not be derailed, saying the “work has to proceed” on any transit plans already underway.

The mayor said the priorities for the next budget include increasing investment from other levels of government and finding efficiencies to save money and improve service levels. Tory said he will start working right away after the 2015 budget is approved.

“The simplest thing that I set out to do was the most important: people expected me as the new mayor to bring back a sense of civility to city hall,” Tory said.

Tory said it is important to show up to work on time, work hard, and respect colleagues.

He said he still has a great sense of privilege for having the job.

Speaking of his accomplishments so far, he said easing congestion tops the list, saying 10,000 cars have been ticketed so far.

Tory said he didn’t realize Tuesday was his 100th day in office until a reporter asked him about it on Monday.

Listen below to 680News political affairs specialist John Stall’s take on Tory’s first 100 days

With files from John Stall and Kalie Stephan

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