Toronto City Council Debates 18.8 Billion Budget for 2025

What would you do with $18.8 billion? That's the question Mayor Olivia Chow and city council had to wrestle with on Tuesday as the city's 2025 spending plan was debated.

To Chow, who unveiled her budget last month, social services need a boost. She proposed raising property taxes to expand the city's student nutrition program and keep pools and libraries open longer.

Her conservative critics on council say Toronto taxpayers shouldn't foot the bill for this. Higher levels of government should pay to feed students, some councillors have said -- the responsibility shouldn't fall to the city.

Chow is also using the tax hike to boost the police budget again, which has upset some of her progressive allies.

Here are the top figures that make up this year's budget.

• $320 million: That's the amount of money the 6.9 per cent property tax hike Chow approved will generate. It's the third year in a row the city has hit property owners with a tax increase above the rate of inflation. Critics say these persistent increases are becoming unaffordable, particularly for seniors with meagre incomes and no significant assets beyond their homes.
• To figure out how much more you will personally be paying, take your tax bill from last year and multiply it by 0.069. According to the city, the average homeowner will be paying an extra $268 this year.
• $46.3 million: Chow is granting Toronto police a 3.9 per cent budget bump this year, upping the service's operating plan to $1.22 billion this year. Police say this will go toward hiring 720 new officers over the next two years. That's a net increase of about 109 officers next year, factoring in expected turnover.
• Police have received budget increases every year since 2021. Last year, they got a 1.7 per cent hike, or around $20 million more. Chow initially refused last year's budget increase but backed down after a public pressure campaign from police. There was no friction between the mayor and police service over the budget this year.
• $57.5 million: That's about how much the expanded student nutrition program plus extended pool and library hours will total. The food program will increase $6 million this year to $25.2 million. The library's net budget is going up almost $16.5 million to $247 million. And the parks, forestry and recreation department is getting an increase of about $35 million to $380 million, which will pay for 478 new jobs, including staff to meet the needs of newly expanded pool hours and camp nutrition programs, according to budget documents.
• $680 million: Staff reported finding $680 million in savings and offsets this year, through measures such as renegotiating contracts for shelter hotels and more efficient use of the city vehicle fleet.
• $3 million: That's the amount Chow has carved out in unallocated funds for councillors to divide amongst themselves. They voted to use the money to pay for smaller, local programs related to street tree maintenance, ravine restoration, drop-in services, community development, food security, pickleball, a cultural plan for Little Jamaica, and an anti-hate summit.