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Exciting times!
I predict Mayor Chow’s next 3.5 years to eventually be seen as just.. meh. We’ll see.What surprised me was how close the race was. A huge percentage of votes are now done thru advanced polling and if Tory would have thrown his support behind Bailou BEFORE advanced polling, Chow may be out of a job.
Now Chow is going to have to have a very hard talk with Torontonians that the days of wanting nice things without willingness to pay for them are over. Toronto must substantially increase it's revenue thru property taxes to at LEAST the provincial average and other streams like parking fees if it is to improve it's public services and crappy public realm. Crying poverty to Mommy {Queen's Park} is aging like milk. Chow, like her late husband, has always been an arrogant industrial sized mouthpiece but now she is going to have to put Toronto's money where her mouth is if the city is to progress and prosper.
Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath.
I expect it will be on the budget. They have to raise taxes about 20% for 2024 just to cover the previous operating losses - which they aren't supposed to have in the first place. Not to mention the another 10% or so for the 2024 budget gap. And that's without improving services.Ontario Place will likely be the first specific flash point though, a preview of the show to come.
I think Toronto under average these days - but the average Toronto municipal property tax is still greater than some other communities; don't forget that many communities include water, sewage, and garbage as part of the property tax bill, while we pay (about $1,200 here) separately.Toronto must substantially increase it's revenue thru property taxes to at LEAST the provincial average ...
Chow says she would bring in a strong team to build affordable housing, build TTC services and work on getting a new deal with the province and feds.
Also don't forget that the average provincial education property tax that Torontonians pay is higher than most other municipalities. Much higher than some. So to do a fair comparison, you have to add the extra services (like water, sewage, and garbage) to various municipal bills, and also make sure you don't include the education portion of the property tax.
Chow's first 100 days, according to CP24
There is a meeting if the Executive Committee on July 11 and then Council on July 19-21. I assume any Chair and committee membership changes might be dealt with at Council in July with them taking over on August 1. (There are no major committee meetings in August so that would give new Chairs time to find their feet. I think Council has no say over who the Chairs (and thus the Executive) are but does appoint the committee members so the committee membership changes cannot happen without Council approval. July might be too fast but, if not, I could see a special Council in August to deal with these but ....Chow will be sworn in July 12th, so that's when the action should begin to materialize.
I assume there will be a series of changes to committee chairs, budget chief, and speaker, given where we are in the current cycle, I imagine those changes will take effect in September.
I expect it will be on the budget. They have to raise taxes about 20% for 2024 just to cover the previous operating losses - which they aren't supposed to have in the first place. Not to mention the another 10% or so for the 2024 budget gap. And that's without improving services.
I think Toronto under average these days - but the average Toronto municipal property tax is still greater than some other communities; don't forget that many communities include water, sewage, and garbage as part of the property tax bill, while we pay (about $1,200 here) separately.
Also, Toronto SHOULD be less than some places. Look at somewhere that's mostly suburbia. There's more to plow per capita. More road to fix per capita. More driving garbage trucks per capita. More pipes to maintain per capita. Hamilton would be a good comparison - and we are a bit lower - but not substantially. You can see though we did have higher tax rates before John Tory was mayor.