After floating potential revenue tools, including a $100 car tax to help extend the Sheppard subway, Mayor Rob Ford on Thursday declared: “There will not be any new taxes administered by my administration.”

The mayor’s statement Thursday on John Tory’s Newstalk 1010 radio show followed meetings with councillors and developers in which he asked for feedback on revenue sources including a revived vehicle tax, road tolls, a levy on parking spots, and a special subway-focused retail sales tax.

“The last thing I would ever do is bring back a car registration tax, because I’m the one who eliminated it,” Ford also told Tory.

His administration is scrambling to come up with a business plan for the multi-billion-dollar Sheppard extension in time for a special council meeting, now scheduled for March 21, where an expert panel is expected to recommend surface light rail line along Sheppard.

Ford, who was elected in 2010 promising a privately financed Sheppard extension, met privately with developers Wednesday who endorsed subways but were cool to paying increased development charges to help fund them.

They also said their support was contingent on Ford putting “all” the revenue tools on the table, Ford’s point man on Sheppard financing, Gordon Chong, told reporters after the meeting.

The Star’s Royson James revealed Thursday that city staff have concluded Ford’s current plan, based on an interim report by Chong, is not viable. Even that report left a funding gap of between $736 million and $914 million.

But Councillor Doug Ford, the mayor’s brother and closest adviser, said they continue to work on ideas to convince a majority of councillors that the city must keep transit underground.

Toll roads are an option, he said, but rather than put tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway, Councillor Ford proposed new purpose-built freeways through the city — or, he suggested later, maybe extra, tolled lanes on the Gardiner.

“On a nickel a kilometre — it’ll bring in $200 million a year,” he said, noting it would cost “a good chunk” to build new highways, but then all revenues could flow to subway construction. He said he would happily pay $3 to whiz downtown from Etobicoke rather than be stuck in Gardiner gridlock.

The councillor later floated the idea of Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. starting a special “transit lottery” to fund subway construction, or a casino in his north Etobicoke ward.

Last month, council approved a road-level LRT for Finch Ave. W., building the Eglinton LRT above-ground east of Laird Dr. to Kennedy Station, and waiting to hear from the panel before deciding what makes sense on Sheppard.

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, after meeting with Councillor Ford, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti and leaders of the Emery Village merchants’ group in Mammoliti’s Ward 7 on Thursday, put himself firmly in the subway camp.

“We should do it right, we should build subways. We should build underground, not rip up existing streets,” said Hudak, acknowledging that he wouldn’t increase the $8.4 billion commitment the province has already made to Toronto transit.

Asked if, as premier, he would back Ford’s plan to spend almost all the cash on a fully buried Eglinton line — even if that goes against council’s wishes — Hudak replied: “If you’ve got $8.4 billion, build subways, break gridlock.”

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Mammoliti said his Finch-area constituents want a subway, and they’re willing to wait up to 50 years rather than accept surface rail.

“A billion dollars is going to Finch Ave.,” Mammoliti said. “Give that to Sheppard and give us a few million dollars to buy larger buses, give us a dedicated lane, and it will cost the taxpayer a lot less, for now. But . . . we want to keep subways on the table for the future.”

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