It will take years of harsh cuts to fix years of irresponsibly low tax hikes, such as the 1.3% increase passed by council on Wednesday.

Someday there will be hell to pay for irresponsibly low tax hikes and years of accounting tricks

As city council debated the 2016 budget — the 31st such priority-setting exercise I have observed for Star readers — the twists and turns, trade-offs and compromises, the sleight-of-hand and ironies and conflated contradictions demanded Shakespearean insight: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more . . . ”

Spiced by protesting anti-poverty activists, shouting at empty seats just vacated by councillors who hurried off to lunch, Toronto’s budget déjà vu transfixed listeners as easily as it promoted disinterest at city hall Wednesday. Councillors said: The city is broke. The city is rich. Our taxes are too high at the same time as they are too low.

Crime is trending down while the cost of policing is trending up — topping $1 billion.

Of every new $100 spent by the city, $92 goes to police, TTC and fire. All departments will spend less or have budgets frozen for 2016 — except TTC and police.

Taxes are going up to generate an extra $34 million to the city. About $25 million goes to the police.

The amount you pay for policing in the city is equivalent to what you pay for public health, children’s services, social services, libraries, parks and recreation, paramedics, roads and traffic combined.

Many, many attempts to rein in policing costs have all failed. The latest one is a task force hurriedly announced this week to find ways to save. Several councillors dismissed the effort as a thinly veiled attempt by the mayor to undercut Councillor Michael Thompson’s effort to reduce the police budget by up to $25 million.

Protesters showed whom they side with: “We need $75 million. The police need $1 billion. Don’t we matter? What’s wrong with this city? What the hell is wrong?” screamed Paul Codd, as protesters chanted, “Shelters, not guns!”

But, as usual when we are talking city budget, nothing is as it seems.

For example, the police and TTC budgets include funding for new collective agreements already approved. The other city departments that now seem to have constrained their budgets will actually get more funds to cover a new contract now being negotiated.

If there is one constant at budget time, it is the fact that the budget is balanced through budgetary tricks.

New city manager Peter Wallace tried to introduce an air of caution in the council chamber. The city is spending $21 billion on capital projects, but there are $22 billion worth of projects not funded.

City council is still dipping into reserves. There is too much depen- dence on revenues from property sales (land transfer tax), which contributes $525 million; there is no appetite to cut services and no new revenue sources identified as yet.

The city’s spending habits/needs are “not compatible” with stable revenues, which are significantly absent, Wallace said. “You can’t expect the windfall gains in land transfer tax to continue.”

Yes, they can; just as they have, since amalgamation, depended on reserves, provincial bailouts, sale of hydro poles to themselves, voodoo budgeting, land transfer taxes — despite warnings that the wolf is at the door. When budgetary Armageddon comes, there will be hell to pay. And it will take many years of harsh cuts to fix years of irresponsibly low tax hikes.

But we know that. We’ve been warned. Every year. Besides, will disaster really come? For sure?

“There are very few people who tell me they want their taxes raised,” Mayor John Tory told council as he raised taxes. People are on the cusp of being taxed out of their homes, he said.

Yet, this very mayor supported and helped mastermind a behind-thescenes lobbying effort by the police to sidestep an effort to curtail police spending.

“We struck the right balance,” Tory said. They always do. Until they don’t. The people will be there when the wolf finally arrives. The architects of the 2016 budget won’t. Royson James usually appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: rjames@thestar.ca