Mayor Olivia Chow defends approved Toronto budget and tax hike

In the wake of Toronto’s largest property tax increase in decades, Mayor Olivia Chow won’t say whether or not residents will begin to see immediate improvements to public services.

In a one-on-one interview with CityNews, Chow said she is feeling excellent about the $17 billion budget, saying the 9.5 per cent tax increase means the city are finally paying the way after inheriting a $1.8 billion deficit. She said it means a better city for residents and allows services and programs to get “back on track” but didn’t say what she would tackle next. 

“You’re getting better public services. Better TTC services, potholes getting filled, community centres, and all of the aging infrastructure will get renewed somewhat. We still need more but building affordable housing …protecting tenants, which is what we’re doing. And all the emergency services,” shared Chow.

As for how it will impact the pockets of Torontonians, “It’s about 80 cents more per day on average for homeowners and for half of Toronto renters, there will be no impact because we lower the multi residential rate to 3.5 per cent. And for those who can’t afford to pay there’s a tax cancellation program and a tax deferral program to support people.”

The tax cancellation program allows property owners to apply for a cancellation, reduction or refund of property taxes if your property has changed during the year, including a change in a property class, property damaged by fire, demolition or otherwise, or a building undergoing repairs or renovations.

A record number of people applied for the program last year, but Chow said they are unsure how many applications they will get for the program this year. “We welcome people to call 311 to get the information to see whether they qualify,” said Chow. 

She said residents should already start seeing the impact.

“If you notice a streetcar on King Street is three times faster now because we have these traffic agents directing traffic so no more intersection blockers,” said Chow. “The police chief is going to come up with a multi-year staffing plan to lower response times and get officers on the street. So lots of different ways to measure how we’re doing it and what are the goals and then how fast are we meeting those goals?”

Among the most contentious items in the budget was how much money police asked for, and ultimately received, after weeks of debate and public pressure. The increase to the police budget came with an expectation of accountability — notably, proof that the 22-minute response times for emergency 911 calls are brought down.

When asked whether she was fearful that she had lost some supporters over the police budget, Chow said the reason it took so long to make the decision was because she didn’t want to cut any services.

“All those programs that we’re talking about. We want to have a drop in for homeless people, warming centres, respite centers, and more shelters. Because if it’s going to snow, they need a place to shelter,” said Chow. “So I didn’t want to cut these programs so when the federal and provincial government said yes, we will provide some support I thought ‘Ah-ha! We now have the funds to support police’.”