[AKS]

i think the better way is to tax car parking spots in condos. the whole point of this one-year metro pass is to get ppl from car-to-TTC. so why affect those who walk or bike?

there are different (and better) ways to achieve the same goal

They do tax parking spots in condos already. It's part of the assessment value of the unit. And it's not like downtown condo owners aren't taxed heavily enough. The assessment of a condo unit is higher than the same square footage outside of the core. So let's say a 1+1 (under 700 sq ft) with parking and locker is estimated around 300-350k. For houses outside of the core around 1500-2000 sq ft would probably be estimated around 400-600k or so depending depending on the age of the home and location. Square footage wise, people living in a smaller place is taxed almost same as people with larger living spaces in a house. And chances are they have more than one parking space too if outside the core while condo owners have one space. You want to tax them even more? As if the maintenance fee wasn't high enough either. And people wonder why rent is getting expensive while it's hardly increased that much compared to all the fees and taxes.

 

[taal]

They do tax parking spots in condos already. It's part of the assessment value of the unit. And it's not like downtown condo owners aren't taxed heavily enough. The assessment of a condo unit is higher than the same square footage outside of the core. So let's say a 1+1 (under 700 sq ft) with parking and locker is estimated around 300-350k. For houses outside of the core around 1500-2000 sq ft would probably be estimated around 400-600k or so depending depending on the age of the home and location. Square footage wise, people living in a smaller place is taxed almost same as people with larger living spaces in a house. And chances are they have more than one parking space too if outside the core while condo owners have one space. You want to tax them even more? As if the maintenance fee wasn't high enough either. And people wonder why rent is getting expensive while it's hardly increased that much compared to all the fees and taxes.

This is just related to the market value ... they're not 'taxed' at a higher rate at all ... it happens that downtown house / condos - all go for higher prices per square feet.

 

[AKS]

This is just related to the market value ... they're not 'taxed' at a higher rate at all ... it happens that downtown house / condos - all go for higher prices per square feet.

The unfairness is that downtown has more density and higher market value so the province collects more taxes from downtown than outside of downtown. More costs are associated to run public transit since sprawl requires more distance for buses, trains to travel and more drivers to man it. So downtown should subsidize the burbs by paying even more taxes on their parking space? As if the people living downtown don't have a hard enough time as it is. Sure there's the comfort of having everything within walking distance, but we gain it at the cost of losing living area/space. Why penalize downtowners even more. We pay property taxes, but we don't even get snow shovelled. The condo owners gotta pay contractors to shovel the snow through maintenace fees. How about we just make the downtowners subsidize the health fees too and everything else that requires huge budgets....

 

[Eug]

The condo owners gotta pay contractors to shovel the snow through maintenace fees.

That doesn't make any sense. Detached home owners in the burbs don't get their driveways shovelled by the city either. The public roads are shovelled, just like the public roads in front of condo buildings.

 

[doug]

The condo owners gotta pay contractors to shovel the snow through maintenace fees.

Condo owners also have to pay twice for garbage collection.

 

[AKS]

That doesn't make any sense. Detached home owners in the burbs don't get their driveways shovelled by the city either. The public roads are shovelled, just like the public roads in front of condo buildings.

The sidewalks get shovelled by the city. But only downtown people need to pay for sidewalk shovelling. I forget which area it was available for only, but after amalgamation, they agreed to several areas getting it done by the city except downtown has to pay for it.

 

[Eug]

The sidewalks get shovelled by the city. But only downtown people need to pay for sidewalk shovelling. I forget which area it was available for only, but after amalgamation, they agreed to several areas getting it done by the city except downtown has to pay for it.

It depends on the neighbourhood, but in many areas outside downtown people still have to shovel their own sidewalks. And if they don't they get fined.

 

[Automation Gallery]

It depends on the neighbourhood, but in many areas outside downtown people still have to shovel their own sidewalks. And if they don't they get fined.

In town is pretty well the same..ive lived all over the city and if you dont shovel 24hrs after a snowfall the city rolls in, shovels and slaps it on your property taxes..same goes for not cutting the boulevard grass.

 

[Eug]

My neighbourhood has no sidewalks at all. The city was looking to put some in, and everyone in the neighbourhood objected. I wonder if it's because they didn't want to shovel them.

 

[AKS]

http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/snow/sidewalks.htm

Hey, Toronto -- it's time to be a good neighbour
In much of Toronto, the City provides mechanical sidewalk snow clearing. But in some parts of Toronto, (mainly the core area), the city is unable to provide this service.

That's why we're asking all residents and business owners in those areas to clear the ice and snow from sidewalks adjacent to their properties within 12 hours of a snowfall. Clearing the ice and snow from the sidewalk in front of your home or business will make it safer for everyone.

Here's area of coverage.
http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/snow/pdf/sidewalk_snowploughing.pdf

 

[Eug]

So, that shows that there is a very large area that doesn't have plowed sidewalks, of which downtown only represents a small part.

 

[AKS]

So, that shows that there is a very large area that doesn't have plowed sidewalks, of which downtown only represents a small part.

There's 3 regions. Outter region gets ploughed, middle region gets some areas not ploughed and the inner (old Toronto) which gets no plough. The inner parts already have infrastructure, but as you move further out, the public infrastucture is not as good and is sprawling. It requires more buses and drivers to run further distance. They're trying to build infrastructure for the outter area now, but people seem to want the old Toronto area to subsidize for it but adding on uncalled for taxes (like forcing people to buy metro pass and someone even suggesting to increase property taxes on people with parking in downtown condos rather than do it uniformly throughout GTA).

 

[klb86]

From Rob Ford's twitter:
@TOMayorFord #TOCouncil has rescinded the mandatory #TTC Metropass program for new condos built in #Toronto. Discount passes still available #FB

 

[EnviroTO]

That doesn't make any sense. Detached home owners in the burbs don't get their driveways shovelled by the city either. The public roads are shovelled, just like the public roads in front of condo buildings.

A home driveway serves one residence. The local street serves about 25 residences. The driveway of a condo/apartment serves about 50 residences.

A garbage pickup in front of a house where a guy needs to manually pick up garbage and recyclables serves one residence. The truck with a fork on the front that the guy just hits a button inside the truck to pick up serves 50 residences.

The sidewalk in front of the condo serves more residents, the bus stop in front of the condo serves more residences, etc. The cost of service delivery is cheaper for high-rises.

The reality is that to create an equivalent cost structure the city would only handle the sidewalks, sewers, and water pipes under arterial, collector, and secondary collector roads while leaving the costs of local roads to a local neighbourhood corporation if they were making things equal because internal walkways, pipes, and other infrastructure are handled by the condo and apartment buildings. Garbage and recycling collection would be from a bin located at the end of each street much like the suburban mailboxes are. Note that I'm not proposing that this should happen, I'm simply stating that the property taxes should reflect the different costs for infrastructure and service delivery.

 

[Eug]

From Rob Ford's twitter:
@TOMayorFord #TOCouncil has rescinded the mandatory #TTC Metropass program for new condos built in #Toronto. Discount passes still available #FB

Excellent.

Metropass program for new condominiums
Council rescinded a mandatory TTC Metropass program for new condominiums in
designated growth areas of Toronto that took effect last year, and directed
staff to provide information to developers about the TTC's discount pass
program. Where a Metropass has already been included in a unit's purchase price,
the City will ensure that buyers are refunded or receive their transit passes.