Friends,
City Council has considered Mayor Chow's 2024 City budget.
Mayor Chow brought forward a budget that will get Toronto back on track. It includes critical investments in services people rely on: housing, transit, community services, and crisis response.
The budget will supports the delivery of over 24,000 new rental homes. It also provides an additional 1,296 rent-geared-to-income subsidies to help thousands of people stay housed.
Further it invests a historic $100 million dollars in the Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition program (MURA) over three years. This will enable non-profits to buy units and rental buildings to ensure they remain affordable in perpetuity.
Some amendments were made by Council to the Budget including $1.3 million to support the implementation of the forthcoming Action Plan for Toronto’s Culture Sector, a further $0.08 million to provide an inflationary increase to Local Arts Serving Organizations, $0.75 million to hire Bylaw officers to respond to noise complaints & business licensing and Animal Care & Control Officers for dangerous dogs responses, and $0.97 million for tree planting, pruning, and watering.
Although it was approved by Council, I did not support the motion to increase the Toronto Police Service budget. I remain satisfied that the budget under review proposed an adequate investment in the police budget, without this additional increase. Further, this budget is fully funding the Toronto Community Crisis Service to be the fourth municipal emergency service and operate city-wide this year, which will divert person in crisis calls from police response to a community-based response. Toronto Community Crisis Service is a non-police-led, 24/7, client-centered and trauma informed service that deploys trained crisis workers to respond, de-escalate, and refer people to appropriate mental health and other social services. This holistic approach to community safety builds our capacity to be more responsive to crisis, and with the right expertise.
Property owners will see a property tax increase of 8% along with the 1.5% City Building levy. Relief programs are available for low-income seniors and those living with a disability. To ensure tenants are protected, the multi-residential tax rate increase will be 3.5%, which is below the threshold that allows landlords to apply for above-guideline rent increases
With years of austerity measures, conservative mayors, and the lack of political will to make difficult decisions, vital City services suffered deep cuts and continued to decline. With this budget, it is evident that the Mayor and Council are focused on a path to a more affordable, caring, and safe city. However, we're only at the start of the journey, with much more work to do. I hope you will continue to be engaged to make this City a better one, together.
Sincerely,
Gord
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