Mayor Olivia Chow’s 2025 budget — and its 6.9 per cent property tax increase — was passed by city council late Tuesday following a brief delay after protesters stormed the council chambers.
Around 3 p.m., protesters rushed the chamber floor and shouted grievances about the city’s action on Palestine, Indigenous relations, spending on housing, homelessness and addictions, defunding the police and more.
Some were dragged out by security guards and police. Others left on their own accord, while select protesters who did not rush the floor stayed to read prepared remarks.
About 15 minutes after the first protesters reached the council floor, security had cleared the entire chamber.
“Today was a more egregious breach than we’ve seen before,” said Coun. Shelley Carroll, who has served on council for over 20 years, shortly after councillors reentered the chamber.
Tuesday’s events echoed former mayor John Tory’s final budget in February 2023, which was disrupted several times by protesters who called for more action on housing and cutting the police budget.
Chow’s 2025 budget is largely unchanged from what the mayor unveiled in early January, despite the economic uncertainty unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s real and threatened tariffs.
The $18.8-billion spending plan includes several big-ticket items, such as more money to hire police officers, paramedics, firefighters and traffic agents, freeze TTC fares and bolster transit service, increase library opening hours, expand rental housing protection programs, launch a new rental housing construction initiative and more.
One Trump-inspired change targeted Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who runs the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency. Musk’s position has been a lightning rod for controversy following significant cuts to federal programs such as foreign aid.
Currently, taxi and limo operators — but not those who work for rideshare companies like Uber — can get a discount on city licensing fees if they buy an electric car. Chow’s motion removed Tesla from the list of eligible vehicles.
Though the budget was largely set going into the Tuesday council meeting, Chow left $3 million for councillors to divvy up among themselves to address individual priorities. Some of the extra money will go to tree pruning, pickleball programs, first aid training and more.
While some councillors were content to take a few hundred thousand dollars for new programs, others tried to take bigger swings to impact the city budget.
Coun. Brad Bradford — a vocal Chow critic — pushed to reduce manufacturers’ property taxes by 25 per cent to blunt the impact of Trump’s 25 per cent steel and aluminum tariffs. It was shot down by a 22 to 3 vote.
Some councillors who opposed the amendment said using the city’s tax stabilization fund to cut industrial taxes, as Bradford’s motion required, was a bad idea at a time when the city should be building up its rainy day account.
The city’s industrial base has gone through turbulent times in recent years. In 2019, over 136,000 people were employed in the manufacturing sector. That’s dropped seven per cent to 128,000 in the last six years.
Other fiscally conservative councillors tried to strike tens of millions from the budget to reduce the property tax hike but those were also voted down by significant margins.
Chow first unveiled the city budget on Jan. 11. Over the next two weeks, councillors went through scores of committee meetings to probe and refine the spending plan. The only significant change born from the weeks-long effort was an expanded property tax relief program.
Currently, seniors and people with disabilities can defer or cancel property tax increases if their home is worth less than $975,000 and their combined household income is under $57,112.
On Jan. 30, Chow promised to raise the income threshold by five per cent to $60,000.
Overall, the 6.9 per cent increase means Torontonians will pay $268.37 more per year — or roughly $23 per month — for the average residential property. The tax hike will earn the city over $320 million in new revenue.
Tuesday’s document was Chow’s second budget. Her next budget will be her last before facing voters in the 2026 election.
Last year’s financial plan was marked by a record 9.5 percent tax increase, which resulted in an average annual increase of about $338 per household.
Tax hikes aren’t the only new costs coming to Toronto taxpayers in 2025.
In December, council approved a 3.75 per cent increase to water and garbage rates, which together could add anywhere from $50 to $60 to the average annual bill.
