Thread by @GraphicMatt

Hope you’re ready for a long thread of commentary, jokes and vote result screens because Toronto Council meets today! Streaming live here:

Mayor John Tory has set the Ernst & Young efficiency report as his first key matter, and I’d guess he’ll also suggest they debate the tax levy at the same time. Second item will be the ten-year housing plan.

If you missed it, I’ve got a full preview of this week’s Council meeting in the new edition of @cityhallwatcher (and also some TTC budget stuff): graphicmatt.substack.com/p/city-hall-wa…

Called it: Tory’s tax increase gets paired with the Ernst & Young efficiency report. We’ll be talking taxes first.

Item requesting the police set up a community office at 200 Poplar Road CARRIES 18-6. Fun vote result.

Council votes unanimously to create a LGBTQ2S+ advisory group.

After Holyday requested it last meeting, Speaker Nunziata says she’ll be stricter about whether walk-on motions get deemed “urgent.” If motions are not deemed urgent by Nunziata, they’re subject to referral to committee and need two-thirds vote to get added.

It wasn’t held for debate, so the Queen’s Park Crescent traffic signals item has passed. Three new signalized intersections coming to dangerous stretch of road.

We’re onto questions about the property tax increase. Councillor Michael Ford asks how much the existing + proposed city building levy will cost the average household. Staff say it’ll total about $326 extra through 2025.

Report on St. Lawrence Centre revitalization plan was just made public. Recommendation to Council is for ~$200 million plan that’ll transform the city-owned theatre. toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2… (PDF)

City Manager Chris Murray says local governments only get about 8% of all tax revenue. Councillor Mike Colle asks if the City could print this fact on property tax bills. Murray says sure.

Councillor Stephen Holyday moves for a report on creating “consistent measures to determine who qualifies for support programs.” The Ernst & Young report suggests the city could do more means-testing.

Lots of consternation over this Holyday motion. Bailao, Perks, Wong-Tam concerned he’s looking at requiring income verification to access a bunch of programs and services.

Budget Chief Gary Crawford says “this is not a tax grab.” He says City Building Fund increase is necessary to fund capital stuff, while committing to continue to find savings and keep budgetary tax increases low.

The laser focus on capital spending with the city building fund is a bit weird. Like, capital spending almost always results in a need for operating spending. If you buy 60 streetcars, you need to pay 60 drivers. Where’s that going to come from?

Councillor Joe Cressy makes a football analogy! He says Tory deserves credit for being the quarterback to take this tax increase across the goal line, but all the “blockers” (i.e. progressive councillors) deserve credit for clearing the way by supporting tax increases for years.

Councillor Shelley Carroll has a motion calling for a report on a comms strategy on Toronto’s need to have taxes that better match the services the city delivers.

So far, nobody really coming out swinging in opposition to Tory’s tax increases. Days like this you really notice the absence of Giorgio Mammoliti.

As was foreshadowed, Councillor Mike Colle’s got a motion to note on the property tax bill that only 8% of taxes paid by Toronto residents pay for municipal services and programs.

“There’s been Brexit, there’s Wexit — how about TOREXIT?” muses Colle. He says he’s just trying to make the imbalance clear.

Councillor Mike Layton, supporting the need for property tax increases: “Year over year, we’ve been told by our city managers, by our CFOs, that we’re on a course to an iceberg.” Iceberg!

Progressive councillors in this property tax debate doing a decent job of communicating “TOLD YOU SO” in a polite, collegial way.

Councillor Gord Perks says today is also the beginning of a journey to get Toronto access to more revenue tools, like a sales tax.

Deputy Mayor Minnan-Wong says he’ll support this property tax increase, but says he finds it “very interesting” that progressive councillors who he calls “the taxaholics” think this is a day to celebrate. He says there’s still lots of savings to be found, including cutting staff.

Minnan-Wong says there are more than 1,000 IT workers at City Hall, which he thinks is too many.

Mayor Tory is the final speaker. “You can never go wrong doing the right thing,” he says. It’s been his slogan for the last few weeks since he announced the tax increase.

Tory says he still won’t support operating budgets with tax increases beyond the rate of inflation. The city building levy is separate, and all about capital spending.

And we’re breaking for lunch. They’ll vote on the tax increase at 2 p.m. (ish)

Council is back for the afternoon session. Vote on the property tax increase coming shortly. Streaming here:

Before we get to the taxes, Councillor Gary Crawford moves to refer the St. Lawrence Centre redevelopment item to the next Executive Committee meeting. That carries on a voice vote. No decision today.

Council votes 17-6 to put Perruzza, Holyday and Grimes on the Hockey Hall of Fame Board of Directors. Lot of opposition!

Council votes 21-2 to DENY a request to remove five trees at 801 King West.

On a Housing Now item for 140 Merton, Councillor Josh Matlow passes a motion requesting staff look at the feasibility of including a grocery store in the affordable rental development. That carries, and the item as a whole passes 22-0.

Councillor Joe Cressy has added an item to the agenda re: the future of St. Patrick’s Market. @LaurenPelley has done lots of great reporting on this topic. cbc.ca/news/canada/to…

Back to the tax issue. But before the vote, Councillor Karygiannis has questions for the mayor. Karygiannis says 64% of his constituents do not approve of this tax increase, but his constituents DO approve of the Sheppard Subway extension. He asks if this new cash could fund it.

Tory gives a very Tory answer saying the Sheppard Subway isn’t on the city’s list of priority transit projects, but obviously there are important projects beyond that list and things can change.

Time to vote. Councillor Holyday’s motion for a report on expanding means testing for programs and services FAILS 2-22.

Councillor Carroll’s motion for a report on a strategy to convince people Toronto needs more tax powers CARRIES 21-3.

Council votes 22-2 to receive the Ernst & Young efficiencies report.

Councillor Colle’s motion to put a note on the property tax bill reminding people Toronto gets just 8% of taxes paid CARRIES 19-5.

And Mayor John Tory’s property tax increases are APPROVED by Council, 21-3.

With that vote, staff will build revenue from the expanded City Building Fund into the upcoming capital plan. The tax levy for 2020 and the capital plan will be debated when Council considers their budgets on February 19.

Up next: the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan. It costs a lot of money, but hey look Council actually has a mechanism to pay for stuff now.

Staff say a report is coming to Council next year on a potential Toronto vacancy tax, charging people who own homes but don’t use ‘em or rent ‘em out.

Councillor Josh Matlow moves to impose rent control on all city-initiated affordable housing developments.

Matlow also moves for a Q1 report on whether the housing action plan is good value-for-money.

Councillor Ana Bailao is about to introduce a motion declaring a “housing emergency” in Toronto, Councillor Gord Perks says.

Bailao’s motion has Council recognize that “homelessness in Toronto is an ongoing critical and emergency issue requiring the Provincial and Federal governments to commit on an expedited basis to build on the initiatives the city has taken to date.” app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Props! Bailao’s got a public notice from 1944 declaring a housing shortage in Toronto.

Voting time! Councillor Matlow’s motion to do a value-for-money review of this housing plan FAILS 1-24. The loneliest outcome.

Nunziata rules that Matlow’s rent control motion requires re-opening a rent control item passed at Council’s last meeting. Matlow challenges that ruling. Speaker is upheld, 23-2.

Motion to re-open the previous rent control item FAILS 7-18, so no vote will be taken on Matlow’s rent control motion.

Councillor Wong-Tam’s motion to have staff improve the Rent Bank program website and promote the program CARRIES 25-0.

Wong-Tam’s motion for staff to evaluate the Rent Bank program and develop options to enhance it CARRIES 24-1.

Wong-Tam’s motion to include $70K in the budget for the Neighbourhood Information Post program CARRIES 23-2.

Wong-Tam’s motion to request the feds support a Emergency Housing Allowance Fund CARRIES 25-0.

Bailao’s motion to recognize homelessness as an emergency and request the provincial and federal governments help CARRIES 25-0.

Bailao’s motion to incorporate work of StudentDwellTO into housing plan CARRIES 24-1.

And the ten-year Housing Action Plan as amended carries 24-1.

The big items are done. There are 51 items left on the agenda. (Plus a few more yet to be added.)

Council unanimously approves the 2020 water budget, with a 3% increase in rates, costing the average household an extra 27 bucks next year.

Council is now onto the garbage budget. Councillor Mike Layton kicks things off by asking about the phase-out of rebates for small- and medium bins. Will cost residents $80 more next year.

I wrote about this in my Star column this week: thestar.com/opinion/contri…

Challenge with this debate is that the rebates are paid from the general operating budget, which isn’t before Council yet. Layton is being told he can’t really ask about the rebates. He is not happy about this.

This is all kinds of ridiculous. People are going to see $80 increases in garbage fees, unless something changes. It’s mentioned in this budget. But Layton isn’t allowed to even ask staff about it.

Layton is stuck referring to rebates as “the policy that shall not be named.” He says he actually supports phasing out the rebates, but just wants a report on ways to use pricing to encourage better garbage sorting.

Councillor Josh Matlow says he’s not happy with the rebate phase-out, because it eliminates a lot of the incentive for people to downsize and produce less garbage.

Layton’s motion for a report on the impact of garbage fees on diversion rates for next year’s budget (2021), with a friendly amendment from Holyday, CARRIES 24-0.

And the garbage budget as amended CARRIES 21-3.

The budget includes $80 increases to small/medium bins. That could change if Council finds extra money to extend or change rebates in the 2020 operating budget, but I would not bet on that happening.

Council now looking at a report on the Office of Emergency Management. Today I learned: the office conducted 2 training exercises in 2018: one simulating an earthquake in the lake and the other an attack during the tree-lighting ceremony at Nathan Phillips app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Are earthquakes a thing we have to worry about? I have been living a life based on the assumption North American earthquakes are mostly a west coast thing.

The Council Chamber renovation item gets referred back to staff to see if they can find ways to integrate it with existing capital projects. Carried on a voice vote. We’ve been robbed of an HGTV-esque debate.

Council recesses for the day. Back tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. There are 42 items left on the agenda.

Council is back for day two. There are 45 items on the agenda now, with some new stuff added.

Streaming live here:

Attendance is a bit light to start. Just 16 of 26 members in the chamber to confirm the agenda.

First item up for debate is the operating budget variance report. City posted a $251.7 million surplus through Q3, and projects a $214.6 million surplus at year-end.

This chart does a nice job of summarizing the state of this city in 2019. A budget deficit in shelter services caused by increasing homelessness, offset by a massive surplus in revenue from building permits.

Anyway, the operating variance report is adopted unanimously. 18 members in the chamber now.

Speaker Nunziata isn’t happy that so many councillors are missing. “It’s the LAST DAY. Just PLOW THROUGH,” City Clerk Ulli Watkiss tells her, off-mic.

Council is now looking at plans for the redevelopment of the Etobicoke Civic Centre. Holyday has a motions, including a rec to “incorporate modular and standardized design options” to contain costs.

The design for the new and relocated Etobicoke Civic Centre is pretty striking. Councillor Fletcher says she’s not prepared to compromise design for something modular and boxy.

Holyday’s motion to “incorporate modular and standardized design options” into Etobicoke Civic Centre plans FAILS 9-11.

Rest of Holyday’s motion carries unanimously, 20-0. Attendance is improving!

Salmon jacket alert! @jpags

Councillor Gord Perks rises to ask the salmon-jacket-wearing Affordable housing director Sean Gadon: “Where did you get that jacket?”

Gadon says it comes from Councillor Jaye Robinson’s ward.

(Gadon is retiring so this is his last meeting. Maybe it should be a tradition that all retirees wear a salmon jacket to their last meeting.)

Council now debating whether to expand permit parking to more streets in Ward 4, 9 and 14. Some residents are VERY angry about this notion. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

One of the opposition letters attached to this item says on-street permit parking is bad because it would mean “eliminating the quiet, children friendly & elder safe nature of these streets – qualities that justify the higher prices paid for homes on these streets.”

Councillor Gord Perks wants to know how much it costs for the city to poll residents about whether they want on-street permit parking. Staff don’t have an estimate. Perks says he needs the number, but staff don’t have it. So this item will be put off until later.

On a Gerrard Carlaw Planning Study item, Councillor Paula Fletcher moves that the study include affordable housing as a requirement for new development. That carries, 18-0.

Councillor Gord Perks moves to defer the permit parking thing to the next Council meeting. That carries on a voice vote. 33 items remain.

Members’ motions are typically dealt with at 2 p.m., but Council is flying through this agenda so they vote to deal with them now, 18-3.

On a voice vote, Council adopts a Paula Fletcher motion to make livestreaming the default for any board/agency meetings held in Committee Room 1 & 2 at City Hall. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Councillor Brad Bradford’s motion to request the province “reverse budget cuts made and planned for the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services” carries 23-0. Nice to see Councillor Ford on side with this one. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Councillor Anthony Perruzza is insisting on a recorded vote for all Members’ Motions, both waiving referral and adoption. Coincidentally, this is a pretty good strategy to make a councillor’s attendance stats look better than they might otherwise.

Council votes 23-0 to declare January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Council votes 23-0 to support MPP Peter Tabuns’ motion to create a non-partisan committee to address climate change in Ontario.

Council votes to have staff report on the impacts of the province’s rejection of the Midtown in Focus plan, 22-0.

Council votes 23-0 to put together a community working group to consider the future of St. Patrick’s Market on Queen West.

Mayor John Tory adds an item to this Council meeting agenda acknowledging there were translation errors on the garbage collection calendars.

Some background info on the mistranslations in the calendars: “What was supposed to be information written in Tamil is actually just a bunch of gibberish.” cbc.ca/news/canada/to…

With no items that can be dealt with, Council takes an early lunch. Back at 2 p.m. to knock off the last six agenda items.

Council is back from lunch. Sorta. There are only a handful in attendance. Nunziata is trying to round people up. Six items on the agenda. Stream is here:

Council votes 22-0 to request the province delay implementation of the Development Charges Act until 2021. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Mayor John Tory’s motion to apologize and make sure Toronto doesn’t issue any more materials with mistranslations carries on a voice vote.

Last item is a Councillor Pasternak motion to for a report on making sure low-income people aren’t disqualified from relief programs for property taxes, etc if they live somewhere where a non-resident co-owner is listed on their property title. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Uh oh. Councillors now realizing some of them co-own properties and could be seen as being in conflict of interest on this vote. Councillors Minnan-Wong, Carroll, Wong-Tam declare conflicts and so won’t vote on this.

Nunziata suggests Council defer this item. “This is getting a little bizarre here.”

The intent of this report request is to address situations where low-income seniors are made ineligible for relief programs because their child (or another family member) is listed on the property title.

Councillor Perruzza moves for a report on increasing the max income threshold for the relief programs for property taxes, garbage fees, water rates.

This is a frustrating debate but good to remind people these relief programs exist. They’re the answer to critics who claim property tax increases will mean seniors get tossed out of their homes. toronto.ca/services-payme…

Perruzza’s motion for a report on increasing the max income threshold for property tax and other relief programs CARRIES 20-1.

And Pasternak’s motion as amended for a report on co-ownership and the relief programs CARRIES 19-2.

Council votes unanimously to excuse Councillor Jaye Robinson from this meeting. She’s off for cancer treatment.

And that’s the end of Council’s December 2019 meeting.

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