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Toronto is facing tough decisions in the coming years: does the City have the right toolkit to fund high quality public services and badly needed capital improvements? Do we have a solid foundation on which to position our city-building objectives?
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Participatory budgeting is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. Several Canadian cities are experimenting with participatory budgeting. This Forum paper describes participatory budgeting efforts in Toronto and elsewhere.
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In this presentation, Zack Taylor explores findings from his recent IMFG Paper on the meaning of good local governance for Canadian cities, and how to measure it.
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The 21st century has seen a renewed interest internationally in national urban policies. This paper draws on the experience of countries that have explicitly pursued national urban policies to solve complex and interrelated urban challenges.
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The national infrastructure deficit has been estimated at close to $400 billion, and much of it rests at the municipal level. Before local governments can raise these funds – through taxes, fees, or other revenue sources – residents must trust that the money is needed and that it will be spent wisely.
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Enid Slack headlined the Local Government New South Wales Finance Summit in Sydney, Australia on August 17, 2016.
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Can cities in Canada rely on the revenues generated by tax increment financing (TIF)? What are the mechanics of assessing the uplift from a TIF before a project is implemented? How much money has it actually raised in practice?
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The City of Toronto implemented a land transfer tax on real estate transactions in February 2008. This study explores the impact of the tax on housing sales in the City of Toronto and the rest of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
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