Council meets today! It’s a VERY special meeting to discuss city hall’s money troubles and other pressing stuff. Mayor Chow has set an item about federal refugee funding as her first key matter, so it’ll be up first Streaming live here. I will post things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_LWZyoYobQ
I previewed the (short) agenda in this week’s @cityhallwatcher newsletter. The short version of the big item: city hall needs $46.5 billion over ten years. Where’s it gonna find it? New taxes and a new deal with Queen’s Park and Ottawa, is the hope. https://toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/chw243
Since then, we’ve learned: - Council will be urge to approve spending $750K to support community orgs and churches providing spaces for refugees. - Councillor Brad Bradford will be moving for a greater tax break on the land transfer tax for first-time home buyers.
Council kicks off with a speech from Mayor Olivia Chow paying tribute to architect Ray Moriyama, who died last week aged 93. He designed the Ontario Science Centre and the Reference Library. Very good buildings.
Councillor Stephen Holyday also rises to pay tribute to Moriyama. Holyday reminds us he studied architecture in school, which is a factoid I had totally forgot about. He says he’s thankful for Moriyama’s work, which includes contributions to Centennial Park.
Councillor Carroll rises to pay tribute to Canada’s national men’s basketball team, currently playing (and beating) Slovenia at the FIBA World Cup. She says three of the top scoring players have T.O. roots. Reminds council this is what can happen when they fund basketball courts.
Speaker Nunziata says there’s a new AV system in the Council Chamber. Still a bit of a work in progress, as she does not yet have the ability to unmute microphones from the speaker’s chair. So prepare for a bit of tech chaos.
The presentations must continue. Mayor Olivia Chow takes the podium to pay tribute to Josie Scioli, the City’s long-time Deputy City Manager for Corporate Services. She’s retiring from the job.
“Thank you for being part of my story, with a heart full of gratitude and a million thanks,” Scioli signs off. She gets a hug from City Manager Paul Johnson and a standing ovation.
A nice qualify of life improvement to the council process: the Clerk has provided a summary of the operating and capital budget impacts of member motions. None of these have any impact, but this will be super helpful for future meetings. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2023/rm/bgrd/backgroundfile-239020.pdf (PDF)
Council votes 22-0 to APPROVE Councillor Anthony Perruzza’s request to look at heritage protections for 3100 Weston Road. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.MM10.5
Council moves on to its first item, about sheltering asylum seekers. Number of people being sheltered on August 27 was more than 10K, says City Manager Paul Johnson.
More charts. “Our shelter system is full,” says Johnson, noting exponential increase in “unmatched callers” as people seeking shelter space are turned away.
The number of people in the shelter system moved to housing has also plummeted in recent months. Johnson says new housing benefit they’ve worked on with Queen’s Park should help, but still not a good trend.
The triangle of sadness for how City Hall has calculated that it urgently needs $103 million from the feds to support shelter spaces for refugees.
The City has even laid out some options for the Trudeau government. Johnson says Toronto’s real estate department has identified hotels in the GTA (but outside Toronto) that could house refugees.
Johnson says they’ve also talked to the federal government about whether it’s time to consider using the mobile health unit tents used during COVID as refugee shelters. “We are coming very close to a cold and dangerous time of the year,” he notes.
The City is urging the creation of a reception centre for newly-arrived asylum seekers near the airport that could provide centralized services.
Johnson concludes by saying today’s report asks council to approve $750K as support for churches and other orgs who stepped up for refugees earlier this year, and also works as a strong call for a “much more coordinated strategy” from the Trudeau gov for refugee support.
Holyday asks Johnson to clarify if the $750K for churches and orgs helping refugees is only a reimbursement or if there’s any go-forward funding for future services they could offer. Johnson says it’s all to reimburse them for services already offered. One-time only, he confirms.
Holyday wonders why the city isn’t just asking the federal government to pay this $750K to churches and community orgs. Johnson says he’d be happy to have the money come from Ottawa, but the situation is urgent and funds need to be a approved now.
Councillor Chris Moise asks if the city has a contingency plan if no more federal money is provided for refugee shelters and housing. The City Manager says the only Plan B would be to tap into city reserve funds.
Mayor Chow says the federal gov has to top shirking its responsibilities. “Will [refugees] be on the street come winter? I don’t know. We cannot answer that question. Our staff cannot answer that question. That question depends on whether the federal government will step up.”
Councillor Holyday has motions. He wants updated data posted regularly about “shelter client origin.” He also wants the city to first ask the feds to provide the $750K, and only provide it from muni sources if Ottawa declines that request.
Councillor Bravo asks Holyday if there’s a timeline on his motion — how long should city give the federal gov to consider the request for the $750K. “What are we talking about - five days? Ten days?” “That’s something you’ll have to ask the federal government,” says Holyday.
Bravo is concerned because many churches spent significant money sheltering refugees and they can’t wait around for too much longer to get this financial support.
Councillor Mike Colle says councillors and constituents need to confront their MPs and MPPs face-to-face and demand support for refugees. “Not send an email. Not put something out on Twitter. Go to their door and say, ‘You have a responsibility!’”
Councillor Dianne Saxe notes council shouldn’t let itself on the hook on the refugee shelter issue. “We’ve had 12 years of this council knowingly and methodically starving the city of the money we need for everything that makes a successful city.”
Saxe has motions, but they are not ready, so Council says to heck with all this and breaks for lunch. Back at 2 p.m.
Council is attempting to start back up but councillors have been slow to return. Nunziata is urging councillors to come to the chamber so they can have a quorum. Still a lot of empty desks at 2:08 p.m.
Quorum achieved! Time for another presentation, and another senior staff departure. Janie Romoff, former GM of Parks, marked her last day at city hall on September 1. She’s here today for the tribute, though.
Romoff gets the mayoral photo. She then tells a story of her first time in the council chamber, when she was eight years old and her family came to ask for road safety improvements. She recalls watching Mayor Crombie smoke a cigarette with her stepfather. Different times!
Back to the refugee item. Councillor Bravo moves to amend Holyday’s motion to put a deadline on it. If this passes, the feds will have until Sept 18 to respond to the city’s request for $750K to reimburse churches and community orgs. If they don’t meet that deadline, city pays.
Bravo’s motion to put a Sept 18 deadline on Holyday’s request for the feds to pick up the $750K tab to reimburse churches and community orgs that helped shelter refugees this summer CARRIES 24-0.
Holyday’s amended motion to request the feds cover the $750K bill and his motion for data on shelter client origin both CARRY via show of hands.
The report on the refugee shelter crisis CARRIES 24-0. City will pay $750K to churches and community orgs (but ask the feds first) and continue advocating for more federal funding and a coordinated region-wide strategy.
The next item is Mayor Chow’s request to come up with a plan to build 25K new rent-controlled homes. Councillors Fletcher and Colle are asking about inclusionary zoning. Council adopted an IZ policy but current use of IZ is limited by provincial policy. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.EX7.2
Chief Planner Gregg Lintern says City Hall’s Planning department is rolling out stickers that will be affixed to development notice signs letting passersby know when projects are appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal. I hear the premier knows a good sticker company.
Colle asks if there could be stickers added to development notice signs reading “no affordable housing will be included because your provincial government says developers cannot afford to build affordable housing.” Chief Planner says there may not be room for that on the signs.
More sticker chat! Holyday asks Chief Planner if there could be a sticker affixed to signs about new affordable housing reading something like “this project paid for by taxpayers.” Holyday warns that these 25K units could cost $500K each, for a total of $12.5 billion.
In his speech, Holyday says he has concerns about this item, saying building affordable housing like this “only addresses affordability for some people” while others pay for it with taxes. He’s gonna vote against it.
Fletcher moves for a pilot project for her ward where the city will provide a “target goal” for affordable housing units for every active development application. She acknowledges city can’t force developers to build these units, but thinks it’d help to make targets public.
Councillor Bradford moves for an analysis of all costs associated with Mayor Olivia Chow’s new housing target. He applauds the mayor’s ambition, but “the devil will be in the details.” He notes council has been good at setting housing targets, but less good at building housing.
Fletcher’s motion for a pilot project in her ward that assigns aspirational affordable housing unit targets to every active development application CARRIES 23-1.
Bradford’s motion for a cost analysis of Chow’s new housing target CARRIES via show of hands. And the mayor’s new housing target, which includes 25K new rent-controlled homes, CARRIES 23-1.
Main event time: the long-term financial plan. City Manager Paul Johnson kicks things off with a presentation. Look at that nice sunset. I hope it’s not a metaphor. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.EX7.1
The cliff notes of this debate: council is being asked to adopt increased land transfer tax brackets for high value ($3 million+) homes and to remove $5/hour cap on street parking. Further actions, like a commercial parking levy, are included only as options for further study.
Councillor Stephen Holyday is concerned about the rate at which the municipal government is growing. Questioning staff, he wonders if all items that come before council could have an “up arrow” when they’re making gov bigger, and a “down arrow” when they’re making gov smaller.
Pasternak asks if it’s possible to take the fed and prov govs to court to force them to provide proper funding for services that are their responsibility. City Solicitor Wendy Walberg says she hasn’t really pondered that and notes city could just stop providing those services.
“Lotteries. What’s our views on lotteries?” wonders Councillor Michael Thompson. The City Manager says the city would need provincial approval to run its own lottery. Thompson says he’s going to move a motion to look at the idea.
Bradford asks when the city last conducted a Core Service Review. Staff say it was 2011. It found 90% of City services were “core.” Bradford recalls the review said the city could achieve more operating savings. A lot of those were through things like closing libraries though.
Bradford seems to like the idea of conducting another Core Service Review, saying it could be helpful in the city’s advocacy efforts with the provincial and federal governments. I smell a motion brewing.
Ack. Councillor Holyday has several motions. Like a lot of motions. Like an endless array of motions. The motions keep coming. They won’t stop. I will need a minute to go through these.
The Holyday Files. His motions include: - Reviewing Fair Wage Policy - Reviewing qualifications for support programs - Outsource more garbage - (Another) buyout program for staff - More automated enforcement - Requesting Chow prepare 2024 budget with zero increase to anything.
Councillor Jennifer McKelvie moves to work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on negotiating a new deal for cities to get more revenues.
Councillor Mike Colle moves to look at the creation of a “use it or lose it” policy for developers, where builders who have approved development applications face financial penalties if they don’t start building by a prescribed date.
“Give the mayor that megaphone. Give her the bully pulpit. And let her fight Ford! Fight Trudeau!! Fight them all!!” concludes Colle. “I think you need to take a deep breath,” says Nunziata. “Have a glass of water.”
Mayor Chow moves for council to take a dinner break from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., then return to finish the agenda tonight. That CARRIES via a show of hands.
Councillor Nick Mantas moves for staff to look at implementing a passenger levy for the island airport. He notes millions of passengers come through the airport and maybe city hall could make some cash off of them.
Before stopping for a half-hour dinner break, Council votes 14-6 to ADOPT some confidential recommendations regarding a development in Councillor Anthony Perruzza’s ward. Back at 6:30 p.m. to finish up the financial plan item.
Council’s back for some deliberating at dusk. Councillor Jaye Robinson kicks things off, wondering why the city isn’t doing more to find efficiencies. “We can’t tax our way out of this problem,” she says. If you want to watch, the new livestream is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw3IFYPGqdg
As expected, Councillor Michael Thompson moves to look at establishing a City of Toronto lottery that would inevitably be called something like WinTO.
Thompson points out the City already generates revenues from gambling via Casino Woodbine, so why not get some more? Hell, let’s go full alternate-1985 Biff Tannen with it.
Councillor James Pasternak moves to request the provincial government take over maintenance costs for the Gardiner and DVP.
Pasternak points out the federal government recently spent $7 billion on 16 F35 fighter jets, so it’s not like they’re short on cash. Seriously. Come on. Give Toronto a fighter jet. Just one. You’ve got lots.
Pasternak is now reading out the stats for how many Toronto residents served in World War 1 and World War 2. This speech is a journey.
Councillor Cheng has a four-part motion. That’s a lot of parts. She wants to look at a graduated property tax system for high-value homes and non-primary residences. She also wants to review the budget process using “Lean Six Sigma.” And wants a report on cost-reduction efforts.
Councillor Saxe moves to also ask the province for the right to institute a municipal income tax or payroll tax, in addition to a sales tax. She also wants staff to look at accelerating the commercial parking levy implementation, so it could be applied to large lots next year.
Councillor Nunziata says she likes the idea of a City of Toronto lottery. “You’re not going to stop people from buying lottery tickets,” she reasons. If people are going to play the lotto, they might as well play a lotto that supports City services.
Councillor Bradford has two motions. He wants to hire some consultants to do another Core Services Review. He also wants to increase the threshold for the first-time home buyers’ rebate for the land transfer tax from $400,000 to $750,000
“In an affordability crisis, with all the fiscal icebergs on the horizon, we ought to be looking at our own books here,” says Bradford. Iceberg reference acknowledged.
Bradford says his increase to the first-time buyers’ rebate on the land transfer tax will cost $92 million a year. Councillor Myers asks where he thinks the city should find that money. Bradford doesn’t have an answer, but says it’s important to give first-time buyers a break.
“I just think it’s a bit risky to approve a $92 million tax cut without any report from staff,” says Myers. Bradford says council approved Chow’s 25K home target today without a staff report, so this is similar to that.
Fletcher asks Bradford if he’s aware that the major recommendations from the last Core Service Review (Closing libraries, cutting child care, etc) were broadly unpopular. “I’m aware that there were $100 million to $300 million of savings and you voted against it,” he says.
Councillor Shelley Carroll, moves to amend Bradford’s motion for a Core Service Review, so it’s instead a motion for a report on the feasibility of conducting a review. She also wants a report on increasing the land transfer rebate, instead of just doing it.
Holyday wanted this Carroll motion ruled out of order, arguing it goes against the rule against amending motions to a contrary meaning. The Clerk advises he doesn’t see it as a contrary, since it still allows for Council to opt for a Core Service Review in the future. It remains
“A Core Service Review is just a lot of showmanship! It involves 24-hour meetings and a lot of Red Bull!” says Carroll. Bradford accuses her of grandstanding. “It’s not grandstanding — it’s fact,” she says. “That’s embarrassing,” snaps Bradford.
Letting this council debate play out at 8 p.m. is probably the first real mistake of Chow’s mayoralty. Totally avoidable.
Councillor Stephen Holyday’s motion to sell off city land to pay down debt, instead of using it for affordable housing, FAILS 3-20.
Councillor McKelvie’s motion for the report on the commercial parking levy to provide detail on revenue estimates, administration costs, stakeholders impacted, climate change, etc CARRIES 19-4.
Saxe’s motion to look at ways to accelerate the parking levy implementation so it can be applied in 2024 to parking lots with 1,000+ spaces FAILS 9-14.
Saxe’s motion to request the province to allow the city to potentially implement a municipal payroll tax and/or income tax, in addition to a sales tax, FAILS 11-12.
Carroll’s motion to look at preserving some development charge exemptions for industrial buildings CARRIES 21-2.
Holyday’s motion to review city hall’s Fair Wage Policy to look at ways to save money FAILS 7-16.
Holyday’s motion to report on a plan to contract out more garbage collection FAILS 5-18.
Holyday’s motion to have the Auditor General review the city’s automated enforcement program to optimize revenue return CARRIES 23-0.
Holyday’s motion to request the mayor to match “income distributive programs” with budget revenue FAILS 3-20.
Holyday’s motion requesting Chow prepare a 2024 budget with a 0% annual growth rate (and try for a negative growth rate) FAILS 3-20.
McKelvie’s motion to have Toronto work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on New Deal advocacy efforts CARRIES 21-2.
Colle’s motion for a report on a “use it or lose it” penalty system for developers CARRIES via a show of hands.
Mantas’ motion to look at implementing a municipal passenger tax levy at the island airport CARRIES 14-9.
Cheng’s motion for a report on a graduated property tax system, where people with high-value homes or secondary properties pay more, CARRIES 12-11.
Cheng’s motion to put together a budget briefing note on ongoing cost reduction efforts as part of the 2024 budget process CARRIES 19-3.
Saxe’s motion to explore non-debt financing mechanisms for capital projects that advance climate change goals CARRIES via show of hands.
Carroll’s motion to nix Bradford’s request for a new Core Service Review and instead report on whether that kind of review would be worth the consultant costs CARRIES 17-6.
And now the amended motion, confirming the request for a report on the value of a core service review, CARRIES 13-10.
Bradford’s motion to request an increase to the threshold for the first-time home buyers’ rebate on Toronto’s land transfer tax FAILS 10-13.
Carroll’s motion to report on an approach for “annual rolling program reviews” to find ongoing savings CARRIES 22-1.
Carroll’s motion for a report on potentially increasing the threshold for the first-time buyer rebate on the land transfer tax CARRIES via show of hands.
The report’s recommendation to approve increased land transfer tax brackets for homes worth more than $3 million CARRIES 20-3.
Recommendation to remove the $5/hour maximum cap for on-street parking rates in Toronto CARRIES 19-4.
Recommendation to report on the development of a commercial parking levy with potential implementation in 2025 CARRIES 19-4.
Recommendation to review the city’s surplus real estate and look at ways to use it for affordable housing, revenue generation and/or community partnerships CARRIES 21-2.
Recommendation to look at increasing the vacant home tax from 1% of assessed value to 3% CARRIES 21-2.
Recommendation to report on requiring buildings to submit environmental data to the city and demonstrate they’re meeting greenhouse gas emission standards CARRIES 21-2.
Recommendation to request the province allow Toronto to implement more revenue tools, including a potential sales tax, CARRIES 16-7.
Recommendation to report back on an implementation plan for a Toronto sales tax, should the province allow it, CARRIES 16-7. (This one flashed on the screen for only a split second.)
Recommendation to report on a higher land transfer tax for buyers who already own a home in Toronto and are buying additional properties CARRIES 17-6.
Recommendation for the TTC to look at “creative and imaginative ways” to bring riders back CARRIES 21-2.
All other recommendations are carried via show of hands. You should be able to see all the vote results here shortly. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.EX7.1
And that’s the ballgame. I don’t know about you, but I am real sick of seeing that vote results screen. It was messy at times, but every recommendation carried. The mayor got what she needed.
On the occasion of her last council meeting, Deputy City Manager Josie Scioli gets to play City Clerk for the final confirmatory vote. “Thank you for being awesome and wearing bling to council,” McKelvie tells her.
If you enjoyed this thread and found it useful, I’d love it if you would consider supporting my indie journalism with a subscription to @cityhallwatcher. I’ll have a full analysis of this meeting in Monday’s issue. Also some charts. Also some jokes. https://toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/subscribe