After the City of Toronto recently proposed a 10.5% property tax increase last month, many new homeowners may be surprised to learn that even with an increase of $300 per average household there are still services that aren’t included in that bill.
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However, Toronto is near the bottom of the list compared to other cities across Canada when it comes to property tax rates. The average Toronto homeowner will pay around $2,771 in property taxes for a home assessed at $500,000, compared to $7,159 in Hamilton for a home assessed at the same value.
If you’re new to homeownership, as a freehold property owner in the city expect to receive a bill separate from your property tax for city garbage collection. Yes, this crucial city service isn’t a part of your property taxes. Solid Waste Management Services is a separate rate-based program where households are required to pay fees for the collection services based on the size of the bins chosen for their household. The garbage fee also includes unlimited collection and processing of recycling, yard waste, organized and oversized metal or electronics.
As a condominium property owner, this separate waste bill is something that the building maintenance fees already accounts for, so while it’s also not included in your property taxes, condo owners are still being charged for it separately.
The city has considered household sizes and different fees based on bin volumes.
In a changing world where single-use plastics are slowly being banned at grocery stores or shopping centres, can homeowners bring this approach to our environment and be more cautious with household garbage consumption? The city does have a bag-only fee for an annual rate of $189.05, and each garbage tag costs $6.32, which would only take 16 bags collected before costing the same amount as the smallest bin.
But bag-only rates are only available to locations with special approval from the City and the bin program is otherwise mandatory for curbside customers. So what options do waste-conscious homeowners have? Could an entirely new program make Toronto homeowners more cognizant of the amount of household garbage they produce? Torontonians could be incentivized to only have to pay a fee for the garbage they put out. If you don’t need collection services one week, you can wait until the next. No bin, no bill?
As homeowners grapple with additional charges for essential services like garbage collection, there arises a pressing need for both individual consciousness and municipal innovation. By encouraging waste reduction and exploring new approaches to this vital “non-property tax” city service, Toronto can pave the way for a more sustainable cityscape, finding solutions to benefit both residents and the environment alike.
