City Council voted in December 2010 to end Toronto's Personal Vehicle Tax (PVT).

At that time, the unpopular tax was generating revenue to pay for needed municipal services. Just weeks before, Rob Ford swept into the mayoral suite with a toddler’s rattle cry of stopping a certain “gravy train," our former City Manager helped set the table by agreeing with Mr. Ford that the cancellation of the PVT would not affect the delivery of city services as “efficiencies” could be found. Since then the opposite has been proven year after year. Next year will be no different when the City of Toronto will face the opening budget pressure of $450 million.

Five days ago, council voted for a modest tax increase of 1.3% for residential properties, placing Toronto in the lowest municipal tax rate anywhere in the GTA. On the surface this appears to be a job well done. Until one looks up from the Council Chambers to notice that Statistics Canada’s January rate of inflation is 2%. This means that Toronto’s nominal tax rate will not keep up with the country’s average Consumer Price Index (CPI). The working poor and middle class struggling to pay for escalating transportation, housing and food costs could argue that Toronto’s inflation rate will be even higher than the national average.

Currently in the operating budget there is $487 million of debt charges. Some of which was created last year when the Province of Ontario phased-out social housing funding to Toronto. Mayor Tory endorsed an unusual and temporary solution of borrowing $86 million from our capital reserves. This essentially transferred financial responsibility to future governments with a six year repayment plan, plus interest. To add insult to injury, the future provincial pooling compensation deficit will continue to rise considerably until 2018, when we will be faced with a further loss of revenues totalling $128.8 million to be carried forward in perpetuity. Provincial contacts tell me that their 2016-2017 budget to be introduced on February 25 is going to “Hurt.” That’s with a capital H.

Compounding the need to fix Toronto’s broken funding model is the Titanic-size iceberg of unfunded capital expenditures in the quantum of over $22 billion. Lurking just under the water are major unmet city-building needs such as transit expansion, transportation services, housing, community centres, libraries, daycares, long-term care facilities, libraries and the list goes on.

Economists are also forecasting low to moderate assessment growth in the next few years. The City’s top bureaucrat, Mr. Peter Wallace, has been repeating himself until near exhaustion that City Council can not rely on the Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) growing in the years ahead. Let’s just say that we’re lucky if the MLTT simply flat-lines in 2017.

During this week’s budget debate, I brought forward a motion to City Council calling for the PVT to be re-instated and for the revenues to be dedicated to transit expansion in the under-served inner suburbs, fixing basic repairs for those living in Toronto Community Housing and increasing the number of subsidized daycare spaces to give families a working chance to improve their quality of life. Seniors over the age of 65 would be exempted from the PVT. This funding dedication to specific and measurable areas of service improvements would have ensured that the PVT be invested in a transparent manner. In a vote of 30-12, my motion did not pass.

Toronto’s financial pressures will also not pass until municipal politicians face the reality that providing services and building infrastructure primarily from property taxes and user fees is not only a challenge, but a disservice to residents. The 2006 Hemson Report listed eight revenue options available to the City to raise funds without the use of property taxes. City Council endorsed the PVT and MLTT at that time. This June, City Council will be presented with a “new“ report asking us (again) to consider implementing these revenue tools including the PVT.

Mayor Tory asked City Council to support his 2016 budget and pledged to have a honest discussion about fixing the funding model immediately afterwards. With the introduction of the Mayor’s own City Building Fund which rings in at 0.5 per cent next year and caps at 2.5 per cent in five years and to be paid ever after, even he admits that new revenues are need to pay for important infrastructure.

Mayor Tory's tax - he calls it a levy - is anticipated to bring in $65 million each year when fully rolled out by 2021 which is approximately what the PVT is expected to pull into the city’s coffers if brought back today.

A dozen of us voted this week to build the future Toronto that we can all be proud of. In four months from now, hopefully a dozen more councillors will join us in working with you to build that city.

- Kristyn Wong-Tam is the city councillor for Toronto Centre-Rosedale (Ward 27)