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Wild clip. They sent a provincial staffer to City Hall to call out Cressy for being misleading but didn’t bring any… numbers? Details? Facts?
All of Toronto’s budget information is public. 72% of Toronto Public Health funding comes from the province. If the province’s belief is that moving to a 50/50 split for public health programs isn’t a big deal, they should show their work. 
The “one-third of a percentage point of the City of Toronto’s annual budget” is creative phrasing. City’s tax+rate operating budget in 2019 was $13.5 billion. So prov is implying impact is around $44.5 million. City says $64m this year, rising to $100m.
So looks like the city and province are actually in the same ballpark as far as impact goes.
(If the province is going to criticize the city for extending the impact over ten years to make a big number, they’ll also need to criticize most of their own press releases.)
(If the province is going to criticize the city for extending the impact over ten years to make a big number, they’ll also need to criticize most of their own press releases.)
City definitely has the ability to offset cuts like this through property tax increases. $100 million could be filled with a ~3.5% residential increase. That’d be doable if Toronto Council had been extra prudent and responsible with their budgeting over the last decade…
But reader, they have not. Worse case scenario for 2020 is:
Offset Public Health cuts: 3.5% prop tax
Fill 2019 budget gaps (shelters, TTC): 2% prop tax
Plus $170 million in anticipated operating impacts, plus potential land transfer tax shortfalls, plus population growth…
Offset Public Health cuts: 3.5% prop tax
Fill 2019 budget gaps (shelters, TTC): 2% prop tax
Plus $170 million in anticipated operating impacts, plus potential land transfer tax shortfalls, plus population growth…
Anyway, I’m sure if Toronto councillors make the hard choice to raise property taxes Premier Doug Ford will understand and be the first to congratulate them.
Either that or someone could use the resulting populist backlash to jumpstart a “Stop the Gravy Train Again” mayoral campaign in 2022. Look, I’m just laying out possibilities here.
