Toronto staff are recommending a nine per cent hike to the city’s residential property tax — the largest single-year increase since amalgamation in 1998 — as they look to fill a nearly $1.8 billion budget shortfall in 2024 and a grim long-term fiscal outlook.
With the recommendation of an additional 1.5 per cent increase to the city building tax, property owners could see their tax bill jump 10.5 per cent this year if the figures go unchanged during five weeks of scheduled budget debates and consultations.
What isn’t being said, and what should be screamed from the rooftops, is that Ford and Tory artificially held these down for more than a decade and we’re now having to do a ton of deferred maintenance.
Conservatives are great at this government-level version of “Not changing the oil in your car, crowing about how much you save in maintenance, and then wondering why you suddenly need a new engine”
And in my experience deferred maintenance is often more expensive than incrementally maintaining something on the reg.