{"id":10206,"date":"2010-03-29T13:08:28","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T17:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=10206"},"modified":"2013-01-21T15:06:33","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T20:06:33","slug":"lorinc-all-revved-up-no-place-to-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/03\/29\/lorinc-all-revved-up-no-place-to-go\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: All revved up, no place to go"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Okay, so now what?<\/p>\n

Much has been said about the folly of the McGuinty government’s decision to slash (delay?) $4 billion of funding to Transit City, so I won’t add my opinions to the bonfire, except to note that this cut appears to be yet another stealth incursion by the Liberals into the municipal race and its aftermath.<\/p>\n

As happened last month with David Caplan’s private member’s bill, George Smitherman was conspicuously fast off the mark, with praise for the government’s move, while Rocco Rossi, who early on called for a Transit City moratorium, seemed taken aback, saying in a statement he “takes no joy” in the announcement.<\/p>\n

We should also take Dwight Duncan’s fiscal pessimism with several grains of salt. Finance ministers know how to do expectations management. Duncan relied on conservative growth projections in forecasting the eight-year phase-out of the deficit. But when the economy really begins to hum two or three years hence, a third-term Liberal government may well be in a position to eliminate the shortfall sooner than expected and thus resume those legacy-leaving capital investments, transit among them.<\/p>\n

By then, the Millerites will likely have passed into history and someone else will be on hand to take the credit for persuading Queen’s Park to turn on those spigots. Perhaps, that’s the point of the exercise.<\/p>\n

But enough of scenarios.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Is there anyone on the ballot today with a compelling, and mathematically plausible, solution to the city’s transit financing dilemmas? Not so much.<\/p>\n

Rob Ford’s stated policies will actually make the city’s financial problems worse.* Smitherman’s been vague, as has Joe Pantalone (or at least the pre-John Laschinger version). And even if Rocco Rossi’s Toronto Hydro privatization scheme comes off exactly as planned, which is unlikely, the proceeds only wipe out the TTC’s operating budget problems (i.e., paying off the city’s debt to eliminate its $400 million annual interest payment, which is almost the size of the agency’s shortfall).<\/p>\n

The truth is that none of them have a clue how to finance transit expansion without substantial provincial support.<\/p>\n

Enter Karen Stintz, stage right. Casting against type, the North Toronto councilor has been shopping around the notion of a parking lot levy across Greater Toronto as a way of generating revenues for the transit expansion plan envisioned in Metrolinx’s $50 billion strategy, which includes Transit City. The budget, she wrote on her blog<\/a> on Friday, “demonstrates that if ever there was a need to have dedicated funding for transit – it is now.”<\/p>\n

Her proposal is hedged eleven ways to Friday – “Toronto can’t be the only one charging.” But Stintz’ basic argument is that a parking levy — both on paid downtown garages and `free’ suburban lots — is more saleable than Sarah Thomson’s miscalculated road toll\/subway scheme<\/a>, as well as easier to administer.<\/p>\n

The principle is sound. In practice, she reckons said levy would raise about $90 million a year in the 416 alone. While Stintz criticized the mayor’s two new taxes a couple of years back, she nonetheless deserves credit for going to a place where few conservatives, and none of the contender right-of-centre mayoral candidates, dare venture, i.e., that budget cutting alone won’t address the city’s financial woes.<\/p>\n

What’s more revealing, however, is the magnitude of her estimate. If a parking levy did indeed net $90 million annually, it would take the city about 40 years to earn what Queen’s Park erased in a stroke last week.<\/p>\n

Something to think about the next time you hear a mayoral candidate bleat about self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n

* Ford is pledging to halve the size of council, which reduces the city budget by $11 million, or slightly more than 1\/10 of a percent of gross expenditure. But the overall operating shortfall will skyrocket because (i) he’ll have driven up TTC wage costs with his promise to make transit an essential service; and (ii) he’ll be foregoing the $200 million a year the city collects from the parking levy and the land transfer tax.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, so now what? Much has been said about the folly of the McGuinty government’s decision to slash (delay?) $4 billion of funding to Transit City, so I won’t add my opinions to the bonfire, except to note that this cut appears to be yet another stealth incursion by the Liberals into the municipal raceContinue reading “LORINC: All revved up, no place to go”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[94,6917,1715,14679,14678,6245,1103,14676,1969,1498,426,2469,4127,316,44,227,10726,14677,19,391],"class_list":["post-10206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-2010-election","tag-david-caplan","tag-dwight-duncan","tag-expectations-management","tag-finance-ministers","tag-george-smitherman","tag-joe-pantalone","tag-john-laschinger","tag-karen-stintz","tag-liberal-government","tag-mayor","tag-mayoral-candidate","tag-mcguinty-government","tag-queen","tag-queens-park","tag-rob-ford","tag-rocco-rossi","tag-sarah-thomson","tag-toronto","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: All revved up, no place to go - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/03\/29\/lorinc-all-revved-up-no-place-to-go\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: All revved up, no place to go - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Okay, so now what? Much has been said about the folly of the McGuinty government’s decision to slash (delay?) $4 billion of funding to Transit City, so I won’t add my opinions to the bonfire, except to note that this cut appears to be yet another stealth incursion by the Liberals into the municipal raceContinue reading "LORINC: All revved up, no place to go"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/03\/29\/lorinc-all-revved-up-no-place-to-go\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-29T17:08:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T20:06:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gencat4.eloquent-systems.com\/webcat\/systems\/toronto.arch\/resource\/fo0217\/ser0249\/f0217_s0249_fl0147_it0001.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Lorinc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Lorinc\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/03\/29\/lorinc-all-revved-up-no-place-to-go\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/03\/29\/lorinc-all-revved-up-no-place-to-go\/\",\"name\":\"LORINC: All revved up, no place to go - 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