steveintoronto
Superstar
I see...So what's the tax for?Tory and Co. have wanted to keep the subway moving forward so it could be handed off to the Province
ELIZABETH CHURCH AND KALEIGH ROGERS
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 8, 2013 UPDATED MAY 11, 2018
Globe and Mail
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...d-cost-to-toronto-homeowners/article14745918/[...] Council voted to endorse the 1.6 per cent tax hike, rejecting a compromise move by the city's budget chair to backload the pain by delaying the bulk of the increase until 2015 – after the next civic election. The increase will be implemented over three years, beginning with 0.5 percent in 2014.
[...]
Once fully in place, the levy will add an average of $41 annually to Toronto homeowners' tax bills for the next 30 years. The money, along with increased development fees, will be earmarked to pay for the city's portion of the project – estimated at $910-million.
[...]
One of the most dramatic moments in the debate came after Scarborough Councillor Paul Ainslie backed the light rail plan.
"You are say this with a straight face, right. This is not a joke?" asked the mayor, who up until that point had been silent in the council debate. "You are a Scarborough councillor. You put a motion forward to kill the subway system when it is the number one issue by far," Mr. Ford said.
Mr. Ainslie defended his position, saying that he did not believe a subway was the most cost-effective way to deliver transit to Scarborough residents.
Councillor Doug Ford, whose microphone was cut off as he raised his voice to challenge Mr. Ainslie on his LRT support, left the council floor to make his point directly to the press. "This is a person that is voting against his own people in Scarborough – this is disgusting," he said, warning that he will continue the fight in the next municipal campaign. "The vote that is going to count is when he knocks on the door for the next election. We are going to make it very clear that he does not support the people in his area," he said.
During Tuesday's debate, city manager Joe Pennachetti told councillors that paying for the city's portion of the subway extension will affect other capital projects. "The bottom line is there is going to be impact across all of our programs with the approval of a subway as an option," he said.
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