{"id":2991,"date":"2008-04-10T15:33:09","date_gmt":"2008-04-10T20:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/04\/10\/mississauga-not-a-fiscal-paradise-anymore\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T15:18:22","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T20:18:22","slug":"mississauga-not-a-fiscal-paradise-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/04\/10\/mississauga-not-a-fiscal-paradise-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Mississauga not fiscal paradise anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The City of Mississauga<\/a>, hailed\u00a0by critics of the City of Toronto as a financially sustainable paradise for many years, is now anything but.<\/p>\n

It’s been forecasted<\/a> that by 2012, Mississauga’s reserve funds, enriched by decades of sky high development charges, will run dry. The years of sacrificing farm land for the sprawling subdivisions that bring in those charges are coming to an end as the last of the greenfield development opportunities are snapped up.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, as Mississauga reaches the age at which its major infrastructure requires repair and replacement for the first time, Mayor Hazel McCallion is finding herself in the same position as mayors of older Canadian cities. Now, Hurricane Hazel will have to decide whether to finance her city’s infrastructure renewal through dramatic tax hikes, selling off assets, relying on debentures or lobbying the provincial and federal governments for more money to finance her city’s infrastructure renewal.<\/p>\n

To this point Mayor McCallion has chosen to increase property taxes by 3.9%, apply an additional 5% property tax increase in the form of an infrastructure levy, engage in public fights with the federal government and quietly negotiate with the provincial government. But, if a decision made yesterday is any indication, that still isn’t enough to sustain the city over the long haul.<\/p>\n

The City of Mississauga’s plight became abundantly clear yesterday when city councillors elected to move toward <\/a>selling off its 90% share of the hydro utility Enersource<\/a>. According to the Toronto Star<\/em>, the corporation is valued at approximately $250-300 million (though it also has a debt of $289 million, which could impact its sale price) and Mississauga budget documents<\/a> show that the City receives an annual dividend of $8 million<\/a>\u00a0[PDF], which equates to approximately 3.2% of the City’s non-property tax revenue stream.<\/p>\n

By selling off the utility to a private company, the City of Mississauga may get about 30-35 years worth of dividends at once but it will lose out on future profits and have to compromise a great deal on local infrastructure issues. Additionally, with the sale of the utility goes the City’s ability to influence what happens with hydro polls, transformers and wires that can require intrusive construction projects (such as digging up roads) as part of maintenance.<\/p>\n

Clearly selling off an asset as lucrative as a utility company is a sign of desperation.<\/p>\n

But Toronto, which has been living hand to mouth for the past decade, may find itself in this same debate sooner than later. The blue ribbon Fiscal Review Panel <\/a>that reported<\/a> [PDF] to Mayor David Miller<\/a> in February has recommended selling off some or all of Toronto Hydro<\/a>, valued at $2.6 billion, to pay down the City’s debt.<\/p>\n

The Rami Report<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many a community crusader can claim to have had their finger prints on a City report but few can say they, literally, have their name all over one. Illegalsigns.ca<\/a> founder Rami Tabello is one of those few.<\/p>\n

The civic bureaucracy doesn’t tend to\u00a0acknowledge the work of local activists by associating their name with the action they influenced. Yet Tabello has his name published four times in the report<\/a>\u00a0scheduled to go before the Licensing and Standards Committee tomorrow, while\u00a0Illegalsigns.ca is also\u00a0mentioned in four separate locations.<\/p>\n

More importantly, the report indicates that the City has or will be taking action on a long list of signs Illegalsigns.ca has filed complaints against.<\/p>\n

Photo of Mississauga City Hall by <\/em>Benny Lin<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The City of Mississauga, hailed\u00a0by critics of the City of Toronto as a financially sustainable paradise for many years, is now anything but. It’s been forecasted that by 2012, Mississauga’s reserve funds, enriched by decades of sky high development charges, will run dry. The years of sacrificing farm land for the sprawling subdivisions thatContinue reading “Mississauga not fiscal paradise anymore”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4037,"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":[21759,50,2,14,20],"tags":[11,5983,425,651,45,717,6366,426,79,8692,21,53,416,8691,872,44,2951,46,57,339,19,341,391],"class_list":["post-2991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-infrastructure","category-politics","category-spacing","category-urban-design","tag-ad-creep","tag-benny-lin","tag-david-miller","tag-federal-government","tag-funding-cities","tag-hazel-mccallion","tag-licensing-and-standards-committee","tag-mayor","tag-mississauga","tag-mississauga-city-hall","tag-other-cities","tag-parliament-hill","tag-pdf","tag-point-mayor","tag-provincial-government","tag-queens-park","tag-rami-tabello","tag-taxes","tag-the-905","tag-the-toronto-star","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-star","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMississauga not fiscal paradise anymore - 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\/2008\/04\/10\/mississauga-not-a-fiscal-paradise-anymore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mississauga not fiscal paradise anymore - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 The City of Mississauga, hailed\u00a0by critics of the City of Toronto as a financially sustainable paradise for many years, is now anything but. 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