Item - 2026.RA28.4

The Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO recommends that:

1. The Board of Directors of CreateTO approve CreateTO's 2027 Operating Budget and direct the Chief Executive Officer to submit the budget to the City of Toronto as part of the 2027 budget process.

As the City of Toronto’s real estate agency, CreateTO applies a strategic city-wide lens to Toronto’s real estate holdings, develops City buildings and lands for municipal purposes and delivers real estate solutions to advance City Council’s key public policy goals and meet the program needs of City divisions, agencies, and corporations.

CreateTO is a self-sustaining agency and submits a net zero budget to the City of Toronto.

Toronto has a real estate portfolio of more than 8,400 properties, which can help solve some of our city’s most pressing challenges. As the City of Toronto’s strategic real estate agency, CreateTO applies a city-wide lens to meeting the program needs of City divisions, agencies and corporations, developing City buildings and lands for municipal purposes and unlocking opportunity in the Port Lands.

CreateTO is a self-sustaining agency and submits a net zero budget to the City of Toronto.

The 2027 expenditure budget of $16.74 million represents an increase of $0.48 million gross, $0 net.

Table 1: 2027 Budget Compared to 2026 Budget

1. Advisory and operations management revenue is received by CreateTO to support day-to-day operating activities, advance early-stage investigative work on housing projects, and advisory work performed to explore, address, and solution real estate requests from Divisions, Agencies, Corporations, City Council and City leadership. This work can range from project investigative work on potential development opportunities, providing advice related to portfolio strategies and developing new strategies to address the short and long-term real estate needs of DACs to support service delivery.

2. Revenue generated through Port Lands management supports the ongoing stewardship, property management, and asset management of the area. CreateTO leads these efforts to maximize economic value, foster employment opportunities, and support strategic investments in infrastructure and public spaces.

3. Salaries and benefits have increased by $0.37 million primarily due to the cumulative impact of cost-of-living increases and other salaries and benefits increases, offset by the increase in chargebacks to deliver City capital projects. See tables 2 and 3 below for details.

Table 2: Salaries and Benefits

Table 3: Key Contributors to Salaries and Benefits Increase Over the 2027 budget

*Chargebacks are subject to Council approval of DAC capital budgets and may change as projects are reviewed and prioritized.

4. Office services and other consists of Information Technology (IT) costs, telecommunications, and office expenses. Costs have increased by $0.25 million primarily due to higher IT costs

5. Project investigative costs represent funding required to support initial feasibility analysis prior to bringing projects/strategies to council for approval. The 2027 amount has been adjusted to reflect lower historical spend.