Search Results for: Fiscal Health

Shelley Carroll, Toronto City Councillor for Ward 33 and former Budget Chair, presented at the Building a Better Budget Process in Toronto panel on December 19, 2017.
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Aversion to taxes presents a major policy dilemma for elected governments: voters want governments to deliver goods and services but are deeply suspicious of their efforts to raise taxes.
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On October 26, Peter joined IMFG to discuss how the City of Toronto can address challenges and invest in Toronto’s future. What key steps could Council and staff take? What strategic policy levers could be used? What financial and implementation capacity is needed to deliver on Council’s visions for future investments?
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The “golden rule” of public finance states that over an economic cycle, governments should borrow only to invest and not to fund current spending, and that the current budget must always balance or be brought into surplus. In Ontario, all municipalities are subject to legal borrowing limits, with special exceptions for Toronto and York Region.
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As the size and scope of responsibilities for cities expands, do local governments have the appropriate financial and governance arrangements to effectively and efficiently deliver services to residents?
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Local fiscal autonomy is the extent to which local governments rely on locally raised revenues for funding and their ability to set their own tax rates. A comparison of Toronto, London (UK), Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Madrid, Tokyo, and New York reveals that Toronto is less dependent on intergovernmental transfers than many other major cities but, with the exception of London, it has fewer tax options.
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Can debt financing be “green”? On June 21, IMFG post-doctoral fellow Gustavo Carvalho presented on climate financing in Ontario cities, looking at financial instruments and strategies that have been successfully implemented elsewhere, with a focus on green bonds, environmental impact bonds, and green banks.
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Financial investments are an important part of the fiscal tools available to Canadian municipalities. A well-executed investment strategy can provide a source of income to municipalities, helping them prepare for future budgetary pressures and revenue fluctuations. This paper describes how the current municipal investment regime in Ontario works and its future direction and challenges.
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