Agenda

The City of Toronto Water and Wastewater Program (the “Program”) is currently fully funded on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis through a combined water and wastewater rate without any reliance on borrowing/debenture financing.  The property tax supported budget is not impacted by adoption of the recommendations contained in this report. 

Based on the recommended 2014 Toronto Water Operating and Capital Budgets, the updated  water consumption forecast, and Council's adopted water rate structure, a rate increase of 9% for 2014 in the paid-on-or-before due date is required for Block 1 domestic-use consumers, and Block 2 industrial process-use consumers, both effective January 1st, 2014. 

As shown in Chart 1 below, the recommended rate increase impact on an average home consuming 300 m3/year, billed at the Block 1 Rate, will be 9% or $73 over the calendar year (from $814 in 2013 to $887 in 2014).  The impact of the 9% increase on a commercial consumer at Block 1 rate  and an industrial consumer at Block 2 rate with annual consumption of 100,000 m³ will be $24,420 and $17,526 respectively, the latter reflecting a 30% discount over Block 1 rates for eligible industrial consumers. The rate increase impact on a large industrial consumer of 1,000,000 m³ on Block 2 rate will be $171,299.

Even with recent 9% increase in Toronto Water rates, the City still has the third lowest water rates in the GTA area. The proposed 9% increase in rates is expected to raise $72 million in additional revenue.

(See Table 1 in Financial Impact Section of the report dated October 30, 2013, from the Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer and General Manager, Toronto Water)

The recommended inflationary increases of the water and wastewater service fees set out in Appendix C are expected to generate additional revenue of approximately $296,000 the new administration fee related to the backflow prevention program is projected to generate $150,000 and the new fee for lost or damaged meter reading transmitters is expected to generate about $37,000 in 2014.

In addition, the proposed two new fees for water consumers not allowing access to their property for the automatic meter installation, as outlined in the staff report   entitled 'Update on the Water Meter Program' could potentially result in an estimated increase in revenue of up to $10 million.   The increase in revenue is intended to recover the City's costs in providing manual meter reading services and to recover the potential loss of additional revenue from flat rate consumers who have refused to convert to automatic metered accounts. It is expected these fees will serve as an effective incentive to allow access for the purposes of having a new meter installed as required under Municipal Code, Chapter 851, Water Supply.  As a result, Toronto Water has not included these additional fees as part of the 2014 Operating Budget and will report on the actual revenues and corresponding costs as part of the Corporate Variance Reports in 2014.

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee recommended to the Budget Committee, to be considered concurrently with the 2014 Water and Wastewater Rates and Services Fees and Toronto Water’s 2014 Operating Budget, that:

1.         City Council authorize, effective July 1, 2014, the following amendments to Chapter 441, Fees and Charges, of the Toronto Municipal Code:

i.          Appendix D, Schedule 1, Water and Wastewater Consumption Rates, be amended to include a manual water meter reading fee of $80 per visit; and

ii.         Appendix D, Schedule 1, Water and Wastewater Consumption Rates, be amended to include a flat rate legacy fee of $1,020 per year for residential flat rate consumers.

2.         City Council authorize, effective July 1, 2014, any other amendments to the Municipal Code to implement the above fees to water consumers who refuse or fail to allow access for the purposes of installing new water meters and associated meter reading equipment under the City's Water Meter Program.

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee on October 21, 2013, considered a report (October 4, 2013) from the General Manager, Toronto Water, on “Update on the Water Meter Program”.

This report recommends measures that will allow for improved cost recovery of damage to City sewage works from private construction-related activities by introducing a deposit requirement to cover the cost of Closed Circuit Television Camera (CCTV) systems that document the pre- and post-construction state of City sewage works in the vicinity of the construction.

Presently, there is no sufficient information to quantify that impact. Toronto Water will continue to monitor related activities and include any resulting financial impacts for consideration with Toronto Water's future year operating and capital budgets.

The Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this report and agrees with the financial impact information.

The General Manager, Toronto Water, recommends that:

1.         City Council request the General Manager, Toronto Water, to prioritize future Basement Flooding Protection Program studies based on the density of reported basement flooding complaints per sanitary sewer subsewershed for major storm events since 2000.  The density of reported basement flooding complaints will be calculated on the basis of the number of complaints of basement flooding received by the City divided by the land area serviced by the sanitary sewer subsewershed.

2.         City Council request the General Manager, Toronto Water, to initiate and expedite the completion of new Environmental Assessment studies for Area 35 (Silver Creek subsewershed), Area 36 (Chapman subsewershed), Area 37 (Hillary subsewershed), Area 38 (Etobicoke Creek subsewershed), Area 39 (Berry Creek subsewershed), Area 40 (Forman-Yonge subsewershed), and Area 41 (North Mimico Creek subsewershed).

3.         City Council request the General Manager, Toronto Water, to report back on the schedule of future Basement Flooding Protection Program study areas (for Study Area 42 and beyond), across the remainder of the city, as part of Toronto Water's  2015 Budget Submission.

The purpose of this report is to advise City Council on the expansion of the Basement Flooding Protection Program city wide, to include new study areas, including the budget impacts and the prioritization methodology for new study areas.  New study areas are recommended for initiation in 2014 and 2015, and for completion in 2016 and 2017.

On the afternoon and evening of July 8, 2013, severe thunderstorms and heavy rains flooded many parts of the City, causing damage to public and private property and infrastructure, stranding thousands of commuters, and leaving tens of thousands of residents and businesses without electricity.  More than 4,700 basement flooding complaints were received during and immediately following the storm.  Many of the impacted properties were located outside of the existing Basement Flooding Protection Program's 34 priority study areas resulting in the need to reconsider how basement flooding risks are assessed and addressed city wide.

The Recommended 10-Year Capital Budget and Plan for Toronto Water includes a total of $962 million in funding (including funds carried forward from 2013 into 2014) for the construction of Basement Flooding Protection Program (BFPP) over ten years.  This reflects an overall increase of $47 million in 10-year funding as compared to the 2013 – 2022 approved Basement Flooding program.

Expanding the BFPP across the entire City will require the undertaking of Environmental Assessment (EA) studies to examine capacity of sewer and storm drainage systems and, therefore, an increase to the 10-Year Capital Budget and Plan.  The Capital Plan impact for undertaking the studies on a city-wide basis is estimated to be $4 million per year, beginning in 2015, and continuing for an estimated 12-15 years using existing staff resources to project manage the consulting assignments.

Accelerating the expanded BFPP, so that it is completed sooner, will require additional annual increases to Toronto Water's Capital and Operating Budgets to hire more engineering consultants and staff within Toronto Water to manage the projects.

The estimated cost to construct projects identified by the EA studies in an expanded city-wide BFPP (includes construction projects not presently within the existing 34 priority study areas) will require additional capital funding beyond the 10-Year Capital Plan.  The capital cost implications are not known at this time, but can be estimated to be well over $1 billion.

The Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this report and agrees with the financial impact information.

The General Manager, Toronto Water, recommends that:

1.         The Budget Committee receive this report for information.

This report is submitted in response to a request by City Council for the General Manager, Toronto Water, to report through the 2014 budget process with a plan for enforcement of the Mandatory Downspout Disconnection Program Phase 1 (combined sewer areas) and implementation of Phase 2 (basement flooding areas) as set out in Municipal Code Chapter 681, as part of the Basement Flooding Protection Program.

A field assessment undertaken in the summer of 2013 of the 200,000 properties serviced by combined sewers (Phase I of the program) that came under the mandatory provisions of the downspout disconnection by-law on November 20, 2011, recorded a 79.77 percent compliance rate.  The assessment also recorded compliance rates of approximately 60 – 64 percent in other sections of the City (Phase 2, mandatory as of December 3, 2013 and Phase 3, mandatory as of December 3, 2016). Engineering reviews for chronic basement flooding study areas have shown that the risk of basement flooding can be significantly reduced if approximately 70 percent of the houses in a sewershed are disconnected from the storm sewer. 

The data shows that a high compliance rate can be achieved through education, communications and outreach, grounded by the by-law.  Rather than embark on an aggressive enforcement program that may achieve only very limited results and may incur costly litigation, a multi-year enhanced education, communication and outreach strategy will be continued to boost compliance with the by-law across the City.

There are no financial implications to the City as a result of this report.

The Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this report and agrees with the financial impact information.

Solid Waste Management Services Operating Budget is fully funded from a combination of user fee revenue, reserve funds, sale of recyclables and industry stewardship funding.  The property tax budget is not impacted by adoption of the recommendations contained in this report.

The Recommended 2014 Residential Volume-Based Solid Waste Rates are expected to generate $252.170 million in revenue representing 71% of total revenues.  The other 29% of total revenues ($102.066 million) will be generated from the sale of recyclable materials, industry stewardship funding, tipping fees, paid commercial waste, and recoveries for waste collection from City agencies and programs.  The revenue change from the 3% increase on all Solid Waste Management rate fees is approximately $7.737 million where every 1% is equivalent to $2.579 million.  These revenues will provide funding to support Solid Waste Management Services’ operations, capital projects and initiatives to help achieve the 2014 projected waste diversion goal of 55% and achieve a target of 70% diversion by 2016.  For 2014, the recommended user fees represent a 3% change over 2013 approved user fees. The revenue to be generated from the recommended user fees is reflected in the 2014 Recommended Operating and Capital Budgets for Solid Waste Management Services.

The Capital Budget and Plan of Solid Waste Management Services are mainly funded by recoverable debt, reserve funds and industry stewardship funding.  The City issues debt on behalf of Solid Waste Management Services capital works and debt servicing costs are repaid by Solid Waste Management Services through its operating user fee revenues. 

In 2014, the Solid Waste Management Services Operating Budget includes $10.086 million to repay debt issued to fund capital infrastructure needs and $18.500 million to repay debt issued to fund the Green Lane Landfill acquisition.  The Program partially funds capital projects through operating contributions to the Waste Management Reserve Fund and the Perpetual Care of Landfills Reserve Fund. 

For the 2014 10-Year Capital Plan including one year carry forward, $289.681 million or 40.9% of all funding is provided by the Waste Management Reserve Fund ($173.2 million), Perpetual Care Reserve Fund ($91.2 million) and Green Lane Reserve Fund ($25.2 million).   The longer term goal is to fully fund the Solid Waste Management Services 10-Year Capital Plan through the Waste Management Reserve Fund, supported by annual operating contributions generated through user fees.  

The Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this report and agrees with the financial impact information.

The Budget Committee meeting to be held on November 6, 2013 will include consideration of the Toronto Parking Authority's 2014 Recommended Operating Budget; and the 2014 Recommended Capital Budget and 2015 – 2023 Recommended Capital Plan.

There are no financial implications contained in this report.

It is recommended that the Budget Committee receive this report for information.

The purpose of this report is to provide the Budget Committee with the 2013 operating budget variance report for the Toronto Police Service (Service) for the period ending July 31, 2013.

The Toronto Police Services Board (Board), at its December 10, 2012 meeting, approved the Service’s 2013 operating budget at a net amount of $927.8M, which was $19.1M less than the budget recommended by the Service.  Subsequently, Toronto City Council, at its January 15 and January 16, 2013 meeting, approved the Service’s 2013 operating budget at the same amount.

On June 13, 2013, the Board received an Interest Arbitration Award pertaining to the renewal of the collective agreements for the uniform and civilian Senior Officers’ Organization (SOO) bargaining units.  The impact of this Award on the 2013 operating budget is $778,500.  The Board, at its August 13, 2013 meeting, requested the City of Toronto Budget Committee to approve a budget transfer of $778,500 to the Service’s 2013 net operating budget from the City’s Non-Program operating budget.  City Finance staff have confirmed that the funding to cover this award has been provided for in the City’s non-program expenditure budget, and this transfer would be at no incremental cost to the City.  This adjustment results in a revised 2013 net operating budget of $928.6M.

Table 1 summarizes the reductions implemented by the Board as well as the impact of the SOO Arbitration Award:

(See Table 1 in Financial Impact Section of the report dated September 25, 2013, from the Chair, Toronto Police Services Board)

It is recommended that the Budget Committee receive this report for information.

The purpose of this report is to provide the Budget Committee with the 2013 operating budget variance report for the Toronto Police Services Board (Board) for the period ending July 31, 2013.

There are no financial implications related to the recommendation contained within this report.

It is recommended that the Budget Committee receive this report for information.

The purpose of this report is to provide the Budget Committee with the 2013 operating budget variance report for the Toronto Police Service – Parking Enforcement Unit for the period ending July 31, 2013.

There are no financial implications related to the recommendation contained within this report.

It is recommended that the Budget Committee receive this report for information.

The purpose of this report is to provide the Budget Committee with the Toronto Police Service’s 2013 capital budget variance report for the period ending June 30, 2013.

The Council-approved net budget for 2013 is $16.4 million (M) and, including the 2012 carry forward, the net available funding in 2013 is $23.4M.

As of June 30, 2013, the Toronto Police Service (Service) is projecting total net expenditures of $18.9M, compared to $23.4M in available funding (a spending rate of 81%).  The projected under-expenditure for 2013 is $4.5M and it is anticipated that the total amount will be carried forward to 2014.