The authors of a new report say they know where to find the money Toronto needs to expand its transit system. It’s in the city’s parking lots.
The report, to be released Thursday by the Toronto Region Board of Trade, argues that reallocating revenue from the Toronto Parking Authority, as well as accelerating public-land sales and raising the city’s self-imposed debt ceiling, could raise almost $1 billion for transit projects.
The multi-pronged plan would require the TPA, which is a city agency, to stop using public funds to build new lots. The agency retains a quarter of its net income each year to pay for new parking facilities, according to the report, and has about $120 million stashed away for expansion. The report’s authors estimated that if the money were redirected to transit, it could provide the city with $30.5 million a year.
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Brian Kelcey, a consultant who co-wrote the report, said it’s not in the public interest for the city to use municipal funds to create more parking. With roughly 41,000 parking spaces, the TPA is the largest municipal parking provider in North America. Meanwhile, the city has an estimated $11 billion in unfunded public transit projects.
“From a standpoint of using public resources, building more public transit should obviously be the priority for this money, over building public parking,” Kelcey said.
Under the board’s proposal, the TPA could still expand, but would have to find a private partner to fund it.
Lorne Persiko, president of the TPA, said Wednesday that he couldn’t comment on the report because he hadn’t seen it. But he argued that public parking is “critical for economic development” and expanding it is necessary to meet the needs of new local businesses.
“Public transit is great for many purposes, but a lot of people still do use their car to shop and do business. That’s the need we fulfill,” he said.
The report also proposes accelerating municipal land sales by bundling together development rights above TTC stations with the sale of nearby TPA parking lots.
The report estimated that selling rights above six to eight TTC stations and nearby lots could generate one-time revenue of $199 million, plus $10 million in annual tax revenue.
Perhaps most controversially, the report also recommends raising the amount of debt the city is allowed to take on.
The current limit set by council states that the city can use no more than 15 per cent of its property tax revenue to service debt each year. The board report recommends increasing the limit by applying the 15 per cent rule to all city revenue sources, something that Kelcey said is standard in other cities.
He said doing so would increase the amount of debt Toronto could take on by 30 to 50 per cent, which he argued would be essential to financing multiple expensive transit projects.
This fall, city council is set to debate new revenue tools to raise funds for transit and other priorities. Mayor John Tory has so far said he would support a new tax on hotel rooms.
Ben Spurr is a
Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics
for the Star. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on
Twitter: @BenSpurr.
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