Item - 2024.GG16.3

The General Government Committee recommends that:     

1. City Council receive the report (August 26, 2024) from the Executive Director, Finance Shared Services for information.

This report provides information on the status of payments in lieu of taxes (PILTs) requested from federal, provincial and municipal properties, and identifies payments in lieu of tax receivables from all levels of government that remain outstanding as at July 31, 2024 for the taxation year ending December 31, 2023. The status of outstanding payments in lieu of taxes is reported to Council annually in accordance with a recommendation from the Auditor General in 2015.

Payments in lieu of taxes are voluntary payments made to the City of Toronto by the federal, provincial and municipal governments and agencies to compensate the City for municipal services it delivers to their properties. In most cases, government agencies pay the full amount of payments in lieu of taxes that the City requests. There may, however, be payments in lieu of tax receivables that the Controller has determined are unlikely to be paid. In these cases, the City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 71 (Financial Control) provides authority to the Controller, in consultation with the City Solicitor, to adjust for accounting purposes any outstanding receivables in respect of payments in lieu of taxes.

Through this delegated authority, the Controller, in consultation with the City Solicitor, has authorized adjustments to federal, provincial, and municipal payments in lieu of tax receivable accounts totaling $4,314,397 in August 2024 to reflect that these amounts are unlikely to be paid. The amounts approved for adjustments will not have a negative financial impact for the City since these amounts have been included in the City's 2024 Non-Program Operating Budget.