A parking levy to pay for environmental goals and a freeze on taxes and fees were a couple of the ideas floated by Toronto mayoral candidates Friday. Here’s what they said:
MATLOW WOULD IMPOSE A CORPORATE PARKING LEVY TO PAY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS
Josh Matlow says the city’s environmental goals need regular funding in order to materialize and to do so, he’d implement a corporate parking lot levy.
Speaking with reporters Friday, Matlow said the city’s TransformTO Net Zero Strategy, which is aimed at reducing green-house gas emissions by 2040, is a good plan but requires funding.
“Rather than letting this deeply important, action-oriented strategy sit on the shelf, I will invest $200-million to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions caused by how we build, move and consume so that we can move forward towards achieving our promised goals,” he said.
He said the $200 million that could be raised from the levy is a “conservative” estimate and said the money would go toward things like making sure new buildings are energy efficient and that older ones get retrofitted to be more energy-efficient; electrifying the city’s vehicle fleet; and expanding ridership while lowering costs on the TTC.
He said he would exempt grocery stores, public institutions, small neighbourhood strip malls, electric vehicle charging spots, spaces for expectant mothers, those with mobility challenges and others.
Instead the levy would target large corporations who have “oceans” of parking lot space spread out across the city, he said.
The mayoral candidate acknowledged that past staff reports about the idea have not been “enthusiastic” but said he would work with staff to make sure the idea could be implemented in a “realistic” way.
Pegging a funding proposal to an environmental goal won Matlow high praise from former mayor David Miller, who called it “clear, simple, realistic and effective” and the sort of thing that’s “been missing from the City the past decade or so.”
He also won points with DC fans by working in a Superman reference to his announcement, saying he hears from “too many people who act like a bunch of Kryptonians who believe that nothing's gonna happen,” in a reference to Superman’s doomed homeworld. “I mean, the reality is, we're not just facing an inevitable climate crisis. We're experiencing it now.”
The city has been looking for new funding methods to fill a $1 billion hole in its budget and a parking levy has been one of the ideas that’s been floated before.
A staff report prepared in 2016 estimated that if the city were to charge operators a levy of $1 per day, per parking space it could result in $300 million in annual revenue. Staff, however, said at the time that the tax “disproportionately affects large malls” and would only bring in about $44 million annually if applied exclusively to paid parking lots.
PERRUZZA WANTS TO TALK AFFORDABILITY
Speaking of budgets, they’re on Anthony Perruzza’s mind as well. Matlow’s council colleague and fellow mayoral candidate said Friday he’s kicking off a 25-ward “affordability tour” to speak with residents across Toronto about the cost of living.
“I want to get into the every corner of the city and talk to Torontonians about how life is for them, how things are going, how they're managing to pay their bills,” Perruzza said outside city hall. “I'm going to go out into the suburbs because I also believe that this campaign needs a suburban voice and I'm going to try to bring that suburban voice to the campaign.”
He said he doesn’t want to raise property taxes, fees or fares for the next three years if elected and pointed out that even after raising property taxes over the past two years, the city is nowhere close to filling the hole in its budget.
He said the city needs a “better deal” with the province in order to fix its finances rather than looking to citizens.
“We currently pay $2.2 billion of property tax monies that we send to Ontario, to the provincial government. There is no reason for that during these tough times, and that money needs to stay here in Toronto and be spent here on services for Torontonians,” Perruzza said.
Asked how he feels about competing in a race that now has 50 candidates, some with more name recognition than him, he said it’s “still early days” in the campaign and added “Just watch Perruzza go!”
He said he wants to talk to city residents on the streets and in their homes, though he mainly ran into tourists when he kicked off the effort at Nathan Phillips Square.
BRADFORD VOWS CRACKDOWN ON STAFF PERFORMANCE
Meanwhile Brad Bradford took aim at the civil service and said services have not improved in proportion to staff growth.
He said if elected, he would send mandate letters outlining expectations to every division, department and agency head within first 30 days.
“The biggest deficit at City Hall is not the budget. It's a lack of leadership and accountability,” Bradford said.
He said there are too many staff at the city who are “mailing it in” and vowed to crack down on department heads who don’t deliver.
“There are fantastic, dedicated public servants who worked very hard to deliver results,” Bradford said. “But like every organization, there are way too many who benefit from the status quo, who are counting down the days to retirement and mailing it in. No one's holding them accountable. And that's going to come to an end.”
Under the new “strong mayor” powers granted to Toronto by the province, the mayor is able to hire and fire department heads at will.
