Raise the Hammer

Amid calls from councillors to take many of the proposed revenue-generating tools off the table, McCallion was trying to be the voice of reason.

“There’s going to be opposition to everything,” she said. “They have enough negativity with the mayor of Toronto being opposed to new revenues. My position is, it is completely premature for us to take a stand before we have all the facts.”

McCallion said Metrolinx should be given the chance to make its final proposal in the coming months, and taxpayers should be given a proper opportunity to weigh in on which tools are acceptable.

She did, however, make it clear that in her view, property tax increases and transit fare increases are off the table.

Council unanimously supported a staff report that left the other nine funding tools appearing on Metrolinx’s short list as potential options it will recommend pursuing.

The list also includes a regional sales tax, gas taxes, possible highway tolls or HOT (high-occupancy toll) lanes, higher development charges, a payroll tax, and unusual mechanisms such as “land value capture” and a kilometres-travelled tax.

McCallion told the Star she has a meeting scheduled in Mississauga with Premier Kathleen Wynne within the next couple of weeks.

“The appropriate question,” she said, “is to find out how all these projects are going to be funded.”

McCallion has made no secret of the pressure she’s exerting to get Mississauga’s estimated $1.5 billion LRT project along Hurontario St. at the top of the list under Metrolinx’s second wave of funded projects, following Toronto’s transit expansion.

“I don’t know what the (funding) formula is,” she said. “How will the money, wherever it comes from, how will it be distributed?”

Asked if she had spoken with Ford on the transit funding issue, McCallion responded: “No I haven’t. I’ve just made my position very clear publicly. We have a choice of doing nothing and letting the gridlock grow every day, or to do something and help pick up the tab for it.”


http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/2013/04/24/mississauga_says_yes_to_most_transit_tax_options_and_fie_on_ford.html