Mayor Tory promises to 'fight against' property tax hike in 2017

Toronto Mayor John Tory announced on Monday that he will ensure property tax increases for 2017 will be recommended to city council at or below the rate of inflation. 

"We want to allow people to stay in their homes, allow people to have the finances to be in a home when they can, and a big part of that is keeping their property taxes under control," said Tory from the front steps of a home in the Weston neighbourhood. 

The mayor spent the morning with the owner of the home, Dave Bennett, and his family going over bills and finances. 

"The single biggest cheque that most families write to the city of Toronto is for their property taxes," Tory said. 

Bennett said though his electricity bill isn't far behind, currently his highest bill is for his taxes. 

"If [property bills] went up eight or 10 per cent, that would be tough," he added.  

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When Tory ran for mayor, he pledged not to raise property taxes to pay for his SmartTrack plan. This fall, after city staff released a report recommending a 2.1 per cent property tax increase to pay for the transit project, Tory repeated that promise, saying he would look other ways to raise revenue to pay for transit.

"Property taxes are a predictable reliable and fair way to raise money for day-to-day services whether it be fire or policing or parks and recreation programs ... but they are not the right tool for major capital projects," said Tory Monday.

In order to build $33-billion worth of transit and infrastructure projects that are currently unfunded, there would have to be a massive increase in property taxes year after year, Tory said Monday. 

"That is something I'm simply not prepared to do," he said.

Mayor defends road tolls

Tory said he is "committed to keeping property taxes low" but said he's been honest enough to put forward other ways of generating revenue for the city, referring to his plan to introduce road tolls in Toronto. 

"There is a way to build the transit we need and to protect the services we depend on while keeping Toronto more affordable for hard-working residents," he said.

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"Road tolls and simple tax reforms, like the hotel tax and ending the vacant commercial and industrial property tax rebate, will raise us hundreds of millions of dollars each year."

Toronto's budget committee will begin 2017 budget deliberations on Tuesday. City council will begin debating the budget later this month.