TORONTO, Ont. - Only two weeks before city council finalizes the 2012 budget, a group representing people who will be impacted by service cuts and fee increases is making a last ditch plea.
The Coalition for Better Child Care, in conjunction with Community Recreation for All and another group representing TTC riders, has released a Family Impact Assessment, which shows the changes are the equivalent to a 30 per cent tax increase for the average Toronto family.
For such a family - with a house worth $520,000, paying $4,000 in property taxes, putting a child in swimming lessons and another in daycare or soccer, plus TTC fees - the added cost is nearly $800.
"It all has to be paid for somehow, but we are a city, we are a community, we need the young, we need the elderly, we need people of all incomes and backgrounds to make this a healthy city," said the coalition's Jane Mercer.
In support of Mercer and against budget cuts is Katrina Miller, who was at City Hall with her two-year-old son Desmond, and five-and-a-half-year-old daughter Freah.
"We pay our taxes, we spend our money at our local grocery stores. Our children are the future of this city. If you push families out of this city, what do we have left in Toronto?" she told 680News.
"There's been a lot of talk about how the city doesn't want to increase taxes. Well, this is the impact they're going to have on families if they try to recoup these costs through these user fee increases," agreed Karen Sun with Community Recreation for All.
The group has recommended an added 1.6 per cent tax increase to the existing 2.5 per cent, which would raise $36 million to cover the cost of fee increases and service cuts. To view a chart with a breakdown of the costs, click
here.
The budget committee is scheduled to hold a special meeting January 9, ahead of voting on the changes during meetings on January 17, 18 and 19.
The following is a joint release from concerned community groups:
Toronto Budget Equals 30% Tax Increase for Families
Today, community groups presented a detailed analysis of the proposed 2012 City budget which shows that program cuts and user-fee increases will cost a typical family using city services an added $797.36. The overall burden, including 2.5% planned property tax hike, is equal to a 30% property tax increase.
Avoiding cuts and fee increases would only cost an additional $36 million, which equals a 1.6% property tax increase if spread across the whole tax base.
"Recreation program costs, daycare fees and TTC fares are going up while services are being cut." Stated Karen Sun, Spokesperson for Community Recreation for All, "Toronto families are going to be paying a lot more than everyone else in this budget, while getting a lot less."
The analysis paints a scenario of a middle-income family of four with regular but moderate use of city-funded daycare, recreation programs and transit. The eye-popping conclusion comes from calculating the family’s cost increases for each service they use and translating that into a comparable property tax increase based on the median house value in Toronto.
Spokespeople were quick to point out that the reality will be a lot worse for families of lower income brackets who may depend on these core services more heavily.
"All families are taking an extraordinary hit with this budget, but the burden on working and low income families is astounding," Jane Mercer, Executive Director of the Coalition for Better Childcare commented. "The long waiting list for child-care subsidies is already driving many parents out of the workforce and even out of the city."
New city policies to establish annual increases to user fees and transit fares were also highlighted to show that the burden on families will become greater in future years if City Council doesn’t take action now.
"This new annual TTC fare increase is simply unfair for families depending on an already crowded transit system to get to school and work," said Jamie Kirkpatrick, spokesperson for TTCriders. "Everyone wins when we have a good affordable public transit system, we should all bare the cost."
The groups are calling on the budget committee to reinstate funding for programs and services to avoid cuts and fee increases.