Toronto city staff recommend deferring commercial parking levy
A tax on commercial parking lots could bring in more than $100M a year, says city staff report
A proposed tax on commercial parking lots in Toronto has hit a speed bump. A report from city staff recommends deferring consideration on a parking levy, pending further work.
The tax has been proposed as a potential revenue tool for the city, which faces annual budget constraints, and as a way to help the city meet its climate targets.
A parking levy would see commercial businesses charged a fee per parking spot. According to staff it would raise an estimated $100 million to $108 million in annual revenue for the city, while encouraging more efficient use of land and a potential shift to other modes of transportation.
City staff say the commercial parking levy proposal is not dead, but that further work is needed to make it feasible.
'Let's just move forward'
The key hurdle to implementing a commercial parking levy, city staff say, is that the city would want to work with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) to administer the levy.
According to the report, the crown corporation has indicated it will need to seek approval from its board in order to partner with the city, and "there may also need to be engagement with the appropriate provincial government officials."
Staff say they will continue to "engage" with MPAC, in the hopes of working together.
Coun. Josh Matlow introduced a motion at executive committee on Tuesday, suggesting the city take on the work of implementing the program itself, if it doesn't reach an agreement with MPAC.
"If they're saying no, let's say yes," Matlow said in an interview with CBC.
"I don't like seeing things fizzle away or have to go back to committee over and over again. Let's just move forward."
Matlow's motion was ultimately defeated.
Stephen Corforti, the city's chief financial officer, said MPAC has the "expertise, resources, infrastructure [and] processes" in place in order to manage the "complexities" associated with implementing a parking levy, including identifying and assessing properties, administering the program and managing any appeals.
"Where we have had to administer tools on our own, there generally has been challenges and issues that we have had to address," Conforti said during Tuesday's meeting.
Transit, environmental advocates support levy
A number of members of the public showed up to Tuesday's executive committee meeting to voice their support for a commercial parking levy. Among them, Shelagh Pizey-Allen, with advocacy group TTCriders.
Pizey-Allen said more than $100 million in annual revenue could have a big impact on city priorities, such as increasing bus and streetcar service.
"It's something that our city needs. We're, you know, having a big debate about [a] property tax increase. Well, here's a source of revenue that's coming from big box stores and big commercial landlords. Let's use it, let's not sleep on this," Pizey-Allen said.
While several councillors were generally in favour of a parking levy in principal, some did raise concerns. Coun. Shelley Carroll said she worries about how taxing parking spaces could affect the owners of buildings downtown that are already struggling with "massive and devastating vacancies."
"It creates a bunch of problems without solving the problem which is the sustainability of this city," Carroll said.
Proposed storm water charge shelved
The recommendation to defer the parking levy comes as staff also suggest the city "indefinitely suspend" consideration of a storm water charge.
That charge – sometimes labelled a "rain tax" by opponents – would apply to businesses with large parking lots that contribute to flooding.
"To kill both of these tools in one day that are both there to in part help deal with the massive amount of pavement in our city, that's just fiscally irresponsible," said Sarah Buchanan, campaigns director at the Toronto Environmental Alliance.
The staff report said the recommendation to suspend consideration was based on feedback from consultations. Staff recommend taking other steps to reduce storm water runoff and basement flooding, such as expanding subsidy programs for homeowners and creating a new green infrastructure incentive program.