Police budget on the rise, rideshare licenses may get capped (again), Hotel X2 faces uncanny delay
The week at Toronto City Hall for December 9 to 13, featuring a whole lot of proposed police spending, a report on rideshare wages — and a rideshare cap — and more.
Hey there! The holiday home stretch continues at City Hall, with a long-awaited rideshare report, the debut of the 2025 police budget, and some notes from public health, the Exhibition Place Board, and the Compliance Audit Committee. This issue is a bit long, so read it on the web if it gets cut off in your email client. — Matt Elliott
What happened this week
👋 SO LONG, FAREWELL: Phil Verster tendered his resignation after a seven-year run as the head of Metrolinx. Maybe “run” is the wrong word there. Stroll? Meander? Crawl?
Reports suggest he’s got another job lined up. In the interim, Infrastructure Ontario CEO Michael Lindsay will step in and try to get the transit lines open — but it might be a while yet.
After Tuesday’s TTC Board meeting, Chair Councillor Jamaal Myers gave a press conference where he told journalists, including transit expert Steve Munro, that the earliest possible opening date for Eglinton and Finch is June 1, 2025. The move likely indicates the TTC isn’t planning on including operating funds for the new lines for the first half of the year in their upcoming budget.
🚇 ELECTRICITY OUTAGE: Speaking of the TTC Board, they voted to ban e-bikes on transit vehicles on a seasonal basis, from November 15 through April 15, citing the risk of battery fires. Attempts by Councillor Dianne Saxe to instead adopt a version of Metrolinx’s approach to e-bike regulation and to shorten the seasonal window by a month on each end were voted down, with opposition largely coming from the Board’s appointed members. The Star’s Mahdis Habibinia has the story.
The Board also voted in favour of Myers’ motion to delay the end of the old-school TTC token era until June 1.
And they heard about a fascinating analysis by TTC Riders looking at how the new “Family of Services” model that is attempting to shift Wheel-Trans rides to the conventional transit system, but, their report says, is leading to “longer waits for transit, longer trip times, and risks to safety on overcrowded TTC buses and trains.” In response, the Board requested an equity review.
🕵️♀️ MERRY AUDITMAS: Ontario’s Auditor General rang in the season with a drop of audit reports described at various points as both “damning” and “scathing.”
Among other things, the reports conclude that the Ontario Place bid wasn’t “fair, transparent or accountable” and that the scheme is now expected to cost us at least $2.24 billion. And that Premier Doug Ford’s government has set new records for government advertising. And that the plan to shut down safe injection sites can’t really be called a plan. And that the government’s use of Ministerial Zoning Orders showed “the appearance of preferential treatment.”
One under-the-radar item especially relevant to Toronto City Hall comes via the AG’s report on TDSB’s safety, financial management and capital plan. The City’s slow pace of approvals for Site Plans is cited repeatedly as a barrier to getting new schools built.
The TDSB's original estimate for receiving Site Plan Approval (SPA) through the City of Toronto's permitting process for two of its projects approved in 2013 (Avondale and George Webster) was four months. The City of Toronto's permitting process for these projects actually took an average of more than 28 months to complete. For three other completed projects, SPA approval took an average of 29 months (with one project not requiring SPA approval).
Appendix 6 of the report outlines the specific City-driven delays in school projects. They range from 15 months from Norseman Junior Middle School to 44 months — nearly four years! — for David Mary Thomson Collegiate.
Monday, December 9
🩺 The Board of Health meets via videoconference for a special meeting at 9:30 a.m.NEW TOP DOC ON DOCKET: After it was deferred last month to allow more time for the necessary Ministerial approval, the Board seems ready to name a successor to Dr. Eileen de Villa as Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health.
🕵️♀️ The Audit Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.SOFTWARE SNAFU: Toronto’s AG has completed an investigation of the City’s software purchase and use processes. City Hall, it turns out, is a rather prolific purchaser of software, spending about $44 million on new software and $34 million on software maintenance in 2023 alone. Over the last five years, City Hal has spent about $235 million. Seems like a lot.
But some of it, at least, just isn’t getting used.
The AG found $9.6 million worth of unused software subscriptions and $1.4 million worth of software licenses assigned to employees either on leave or no longer employed by the City.
There are explanations offered for some of this. Some Microsoft 365 subscriptions were purchased as a package of licenses for 10,000 users as part of a bulk discount, but the rollout was delayed due to the pandemic and some networking issues that needed to be resolved. They’ve since been fully deployed. And some of the licenses kept attached to former employees are because of a need to maintain email archives, though the AG says a more cost-effective archival system would be a really good idea.
The Star’s Ben Spurr has more.
AND ALSO:
The Auditor General is requesting an $8.65 million budget for 2025, up 4.3% over 2024. That’ll allow for continued work on planned audits into areas like the MLSE deal for the FIFA World Cup, winter homeless respite sites, the City-wide use of purchase order amendments on contracts, paid duty policing, TTC subway maintenance (or lack thereof) and the purchase of electric ferries to serve Toronto Island. Lots of good reading to look forward to. Another interesting budget note: the AG is requesting a special one-time $150,000 budget bump to hire experts to conduct a forensic audit into the controversial PayIt deal.
Tuesday, December 10
🗄️ The Executive Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.RIDESHARE CAPPER: Starting at this meeting, City Hall will take another shot at putting a cap on the number of rideshare licenses available to drivers using platforms like Uber and Lyft. A new report recommends a cap of 80,429 licenses, basically freezing the number of licenses available at the level it was at on December 1, though there would be an exemption for wheelchair-accessible vehicles and electric cars.
The number has drawn rebukes from all sides. Kristine Hubbard of Beck Taxi told the Sun’s Jane Stevenson that the number is way too high: “They’re capping at the same number that New York City has at 10 times their population,” she told Stevenson. (A comparison of Toronto and NYC included in the report says Toronto has about 25,280 active daily rideshare vehicles, compared to 56,458 for NYC. NYC is nearly three times bigger.)
But Uber’s Keerthana Rang — a former staffer to John Tory — quickly put out a statement saying the City wants to impose a cap “without any industry consultation or accurate data.” As you’d expect, they’re not fans.
The report does come with lots of data, though. Of particular interest is a 2024 Transportation Impact study.
It reports that the number of active rideshare vehicles on the streets each day is about 26,300. They provide about 212,000 daily trips.
But the City’s numbers suggest drivers are spending an increasing amount of time cruising around with no passengers, waiting for their next fare — empty.
Rideshare traffic amounts to about 14.2% of traffic in the downtown core, but the report is cautious about labelling Uber and Lyft as a cause of congestion. “There is however no specific evidence that these PTC volumes are driving acute growth in congestion, however they are a significant part of the mix of vehicles circulating in downtown Toronto,” the report says.
The effect on transit ridership is also a bit ambiguous, according to this report. Between 41% and 61% of Uber and Lyft users would choose transit if the platforms weren’t available, the report says. But 24% of rideshare trips are already used to make connections to transit. Account for those, and the potential weekday ridership increase that could come to TTC if rideshare were eliminated is estimated at between 4.6% and 6.9%.
But the report cautions that many rideshare users are also frequent transit users and so, “while [rideshare] use may contribute to some shifts away from transit, it also serves to complement transit particularly when there is greater urgency for speed and reliability of travel.”
A separate report offers an especially daunting set of data points for both drivers of cabs and so-called “Private Transportation Company” (PTC) vehicles, like Uber and Lyft.
There are some interesting demographic numbers drawn from a City survey, especially on the PTC side. 63% of PTC drivers in Toronto live outside of Toronto. 71% identify as a visible minority. 96% are male. 60% are under 40.
But the wage stuff is the most interesting. 51% of cab drivers and 59% of PTC drivers say they earn less than $15 an hour after expenses.
To reinforce that, an academic study by a trio of professors analyzed PTC wages and found that drivers in Toronto earn about $22.46 per hour when they have a rideshare app open. That figure drops to less than six bucks an hour once expenses are considered.
The report does contain some caveats. First, the earnings don’t account for potential money drivers are earning through non-passenger work, like delivering for UberEats. Second, the expense calculation doesn’t consider drivers’ ability to claim expenses against their taxes.
Still, six bucks an hour! That was alarming enough for Mayor Olivia Chow that, soon after the report dropped, her office released a letter she penned to David Picinni, the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training & Skills Development, requesting provincial regulations to boost take-home pay.
BUDGET PREGAME: The Executive Committee agenda also contains a bunch of items providing some tantalizing hints at the budget to come in the new year.
City Hall has posted a tidy half-billion operating budget surplus through the end of Q3. Still, staff are being conservative with their year-end estimates, projecting the number will end up at $107.5 million. I’ll take the over. Land transfer tax is tracking to come in at $879 million, which is $20 million below the budgeted target, but that’s more than offset by an expected $25.7 million in surplus revenue from the hotel/Airbnb tax and $116.4 million (!) from investment earnings. I’d expect the investment windfall to play a significant role in the 2025 budget-balancing strategy.
Speaking of balancing strategies, the City has $5.9 billion in reserves as of the end of September— up from $5.3 billion at the end of 2023 — including $589 million in a designated “Tax Rate Stabilization” reserve. That’s more than the City needs, so $211 million is being transferred to a separate “Budget Bridging & Balancing Reserve Fund” that’ll likely be helpful for the 2025 budget.
The City says it’s on track to spend about 75% of its planned capital budget in 2024 — up a bit from 71% last year. The biggest area of concern is probably Shelter & Support Services, which had spent just 18.6% of its $142 million capital budget through the end of Q3, and is projecting a year-end spend of just 46%.
If approved by Council, water bills will be going up by 3.75% — about 39 bucks a year for the average household — on an interim basis. This increase will likely be carried over as part of the real water budget. Interim fees for garbage bins will also increase by the same amount. That amounts to about $13.44 more annually for those with a medium-size bin.
AND ALSO:
A report on the eye-popping $149 million cost estimate for the Metrolinx-delivered West Toronto Railpath Extension concludes that the cost estimate should not, in fact, be causing any eyes to pop. “Much more than a pathway, the [Rail Path Extension] is a significant infrastructure project that includes four bridges, including a 350 m long elevated section crossing the Barrie rail corridor, two public plazas and seven new community connections,” the report says. I still think there might be some questions.
Ahead of the meeting, staff will submit supplementary reports on a pair of intriguing matters. The first will look at what else the City can do as a “public developer” to build affordable homes faster. The second will look at the next phase of waterfront revitalization.
Previously, in City Hall Watcher
For paid subscribers of City Hall Watcher, this week’s issue has:
LOBBYIST WATCH for November 2024, featuring tidbits about Live Nation’s jam-band approach to lobbying, anti-noise lobbying, hovercrafts and more.
Next week:
Guest contributor Damien Moule returns with a look at what really causes traffic to buld up on Toronto’s streets. Hint: it’s not bike lanes.
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Wednesday, December 11
♿️ The Accessibility Advisory Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.TO THE BEACH: The Accessibility Committee will hear a pair of presentations about making Toronto’s summer spots more accessible. The first looks at the accessibility of the city’s beaches, while the second looks at accessible access to water taxis serving Toronto Island. There’s work to do on both fronts.
CONSTRUCTION CONSTRAINTS: A presentation from Transportation Services tells us that, as part of the “Construction Management Levy” coming as part of the 2025 budget, there’s an opportunity to introduce new fees charged to companies that fail to maintain accessibility around their work zones.
🏆 The Bid Award Panel meets via videoconference at 2 p.m.CONTRACT AWARD OF THE WEEK: Up to $614,658 for a Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectrometric Triple Quadrupole Detector. Sounds made up.
Thursday, December 12
🚔 The Police Service Board meets at Police HQ at 9 a.m.BUDGET BOOST: The Police have made it official. Chief Myron Demkiw is requesting at least a 3.9% budget increase this year, amounting to about $46.2 million over their 2024 budget.
I say “at least” because the budget does not yet include the impacts of the collective agreement salary increases for both 2024 and 2025 that will be unveiled once a deal is struck with the Toronto Police Association. Last year, City CFO Stephen Conforti told Council that each 1% salary increase in the collective agreement amounts to a $10 million budget impact.
The budget submission contemplates 109 net new officers, down from the 150 contemplated in the hiring plan. Those new salaries make up the biggest component of the proposed increase.
The budget is likely underestimating the amount that will be spent on premium pay. The cops are on track to spend $97.7 million on overtime and other premium pay this year. It’s unlikely they’ll be able to drop that figure by nearly $40 million in 2025.
“Other Expenditures” is, by percentage, the biggest area of spending growth. I’ll have a more detailed look at the changes in the proposed budget in a future edition of CHW, but most of the increase is related to IT spending.
The Star’s Ben Cohen tells us Mayor Olivia Chow will support the proposed increase.
AND ALSO:
The Police Board agenda also includes an item about the proposed 2025 capital budget. The long-term plan has increased by $304 million, in large part due to a $123.2 million increase in the cost of building new headquarters for 54 and 55 Divisions. A previous plan to amalgamate the two divisions has been scuttled. The report also tells us the police plan to expand space for the mounted unit. The $7.2 million project — as yet unfunded — has been deemed necessary because the police have switched to Clydesdales as their horse of choice, and they’re bigger than previous breeds and need more stall space. The capital plan also reveals that the police plan to spend $3 million on a new facial recognition system and $14 million on Tasers.
🏢 The TCHC Board meets at City Hall at 9 a.m.YET ANOTHER BUDGET: Though the documents weren’t available as of press time, the TCHC Board is scheduled to tangle with their 2025 Operating and Capital Budgets.
🎢 The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place meets at Beanfield Centre at 9:30 a.m.
EX-TRA TIME NEEDED: Phase two of the Hotel X project — a 400-room, 360,000-square-foot hotel with an associated entertainment venue accommodating between 5,500 and 7,000 people — has been delayed by seven years, according to a new report to the Exhibition Place board. Under the previous plan, construction was set to finish in August 2025. The new plan targets March 2032.
💰 The Investment Board meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.ON THE BENCH: A report on the performance of the City’s major investments shows recent performance ahead of the City’s benchmarks, though the funds still lag behind benchmarks since inception. The $2.8 billion Sinking Fund was up 5.4% in Q3 and 18.9% over the last year. The $5.8 billion Long-Term Fund was up 4.9% in Q3 and 17.2% over the last year.
Friday, December 13
👉 The Civic Appointments Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.The agenda for this meeting wasn’t posted at press time, but you can rest assured they will be appointing people to something or other.
🔎 The Compliance Audit Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.
MAMMO MATERIAL: Former councillor Giorgio Mammoliti failed to file the requisite financial form following his failed 2023 mayoral bid. He says he “could not find an Auditor because most Auditors feel that it’s too complicated in Toronto.” But the Compliance Audit Committee has no problem finding auditors. The one that looked at Mammo’s campaign found a few notable issues, including significant expenses paid for with personal funds, a self-contribution of at least $45,406.43 — way above the $25,000 limit — and $4,900 in cash donations, mostly in the form of hundreds of $20 bills.
The report also notes that the campaign — which secured 1,105 votes — had two lease agreements for office space, including a bungalow off Yonge Street.
The Committee will have to decide whether any of this amounts to a big enough violation to commence legal proceedings against Mammoliti. He’s already barred from seeking office in the 2026 municipal election.
The Week After Next
Council meets for the final time in 2024, starting on Tuesday, December 17.
The Far-Flung Future
After the holiday break, the budget launch blasts off on Monday, January 13.
Feedback? Tip? Email Matt Elliott. For advertising inquiries, email Sean Hansel.
"Liquid Chromatography (LC) with Mass Spectrometric (MS) Triple Quadrupole Detector". So what the heck is it? I did a little bit of research. Basically it is an instrument that breaks down complex chemical compounds into simpler components allowing them to be more easily identified. Not sure if this is going to be used by Toronto Water at the start (water purification) or end (sewage treatment) of water management.
"The $7.2 million project — as yet unfunded — has been deemed necessary because the police have switched to Clydesdales as their horse of choice, and they’re bigger than previous breeds and need more stall space." So it seems the issue of police bloat isn't limited just to their budget, but now to their horses even!