The Audit

An appraisal of the month in money

A penny-bypenny reckoning of Toronto’s spending habits

$0

Property taxes paid by the Colonnade, a luxury shopping complex in Yorkville, due to a 66-yearold arrangement between the city and U of T’s Victoria University, which owns the land.

$9.34

Price of a four-pack of Henderson Brewing’s The End of Honesty beer, a themed lager brewed with sugar purchased at Honest Ed’s.

$90

Amount that the average homeowner’s annual property taxes will increase this year, thanks to a 3.3 per cent hike in the 2017 budget. (Unless you own the Colonnade.)

$4,000

Number printed on one woman’s Presto receipt after a $40 transaction, due to a technical glitch that flubbed a couple of decimal places. Her card wasn’t charged.

$14,000

Amount, in cash, found in a shopping bag left aboard a TTC bus. The driver contacted the police, and they returned the money to its owner.

$100,000

Amount, in cash, found in an old TV at a recycling plant in Barrie. Staff contacted the police, and they returned the money to its owner, who’d used the TV as a hiding spot.

$1,200,000

Value of the endoscopy and colonoscopy equipment that three thieves recently stole from Toronto Western Hospital. At press time, they, and the pilfered scopes, remained at large.

$4,000,000

Total amount that GO Transit has refunded to passengers since 2014. The authority reimburses fares if it’s the cause of a train being delayed 15 minutes or more— something that’s occurred nearly 12,000 times over the past three years.