Perhaps she is lowballing the costs of her program
TAXES
The plan A one-point increase in the land-transfer tax, to 3%, for houses over $2-million. Chow has said she would raise property taxes around the rate of inflation, though her platform doesn’t say as much. Along with indexing the billboard tax to inflation, “ending subsidies to polluting businesses” and cancelling the Scarborough subway, this would fund her program, she says. The bill $28.6-million added to the operating budget in 2015. Feasible? Raising the money is the easy part. How far it will go remains to be seen. (See below.)
PUBLIC TRANSIT
The plan Revive Scarborough LRT, cancel subway; improve bus service. The bill $15-million for the buses. The LRT is fully funded already. Feasible? Unclear how much improvement $15-million can buy. Her platform backs off previous promise of 10% increase on main rush-hour routes. LRT would require the province to abandon its support for the subway and re-purpose the money.
GRIDLOCK
The plan Build 200 kilometres of painted or separated bike lanes. Crack down on scofflaws (cars parked illegally or blocking intersections during rush hour) and traffic lanes closed for no reason. Explore “smart” traffic signal technology. The bill $4-million for bike lanes, half to come from delaying bike trails, half through debt. A pilot project for “smart” traffic signals at 10 intersections has been estimated at $300,000. Feasible? Chow’s bikes budget seems very optimistic. The cost to install 2.4 kilometres of separated lanes on Sherbourne Street was $2.4-million. Enforcing existing traffic laws could raise revenue.
HOUSING
The plan “Mandate 20% affordable units in new residential buildings,” and “defer development charges for these units for 10 years” — renewable so long as the units stay affordable — to create 15,000 such units in four years. The bill Free! Feasible? Wildly ambitious. The policy is in use in other cities, but Toronto lacks the authority to make such a policy mandatory, says affordable housing consultant Richard Drdla — and voluntary targets, he says, are “frankly a waste of time.” Even if it was mandatory, Drdla suggests a 20% figure could yield 2,000 a units a year — far below Chow’s estimates.
CHILDREN
The plan Create 3,000 new childcare spaces, half subsidized. Expand nutrition programs so an additional 36,000 children get breakfast at school. Add after-school recreation programs for 1,200 more children. The bill $20-million in new provincial funding to subsidize daycare spots, plus $15-million of debt to build child-care centres, and subsidize more spots. $1-million a year to expand rec programs and $2-million to increase nutrition programs. Feasible? Provided the province’s new child-care funding formula remains, and the $15-million in capital dollars are allocated by council. The city had already planned to add 668 new spots with the provincial money. Chow will increase the land-transfer tax on homes over $2-million to pay for student nutrition and rec programs.