Surprising support for the proposal to toll Toronto-owned highways like the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway could herald the revival of the idea in Hamilton where staff have historically favoured similar charges on the Lincoln Alexander and Red Hill parkways. A large debt still remains from the construction of the latter expressway and the city is also confronted with an enormous shortfall in the maintenance of its roadways and limited revenue sources to correct that problem.
Toronto Mayor John Tory’s tolling plan specifically argues that his city must find new funding streams other than property taxes if it is to have any hope of balancing its budget. Hamilton is facing the same problem of inadequate funds to cover capital costs and resistance to higher taxes.
A poll done the same day that Tory proposed a $2 per vehicle charge for expressway users found that 46 percent approved the move and the use of the monies to improve transit while 45 percent were opposed. That’s a remarkable increase in support for tolls that have been overwhelming rejected in the past.
There’s also strong support from the David Suzuki Foundation, from respected municipal planners and from experts like Transport Futures. A statement from the latter pointed to congestion reduction, improved geographic equity, climate and health benefits.
“Road pricing using time-varying tolls is the most attractive funding scheme for the GTHA in terms of adhering to the user-pay principle, economic efficiency, consistent and sustainable revenue yield, and equity,” argued a 2013 report from the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario.
That view was echoed last year by planner Harry Kitchen who pointed to “a general consensus that charging the users makes the most sense” because municipal property taxpayers “can’t shoulder the responsibility of improving public transit and roads.”
A proposal to toll Hamilton’s expressways was made by city staff in 2004 in response to a council request for investigation. The idea was again discussed by councillors in 2008 but rejected both times. The 2004 report estimated revenues of $3.4 to $14.3 million depending on the size of the toll (from 25 cents to one dollar per kilometer)
“There is an opportunity for the City of Hamilton to recover all or some of the capital and maintenance costs of the expressway by tolling the facility,” argued staff. “Furthermore, dependent on the level of charges, tolling can be a potential revenue generator for the city.”
Outstanding city debt for the valley expressway currently stands at just under $50 million despite an $11.8 million repayment in 2016 that made up more than a fifth of the total city debt carrying costs this year.
Hamilton’s 2017 capital budget report is again acknowledging an accumulated deficit in the maintenance of existing infrastructure that exceeds three and a half billion dollars. Next year’s roads budget, like this year’s, will fall more than $100 million short of what staff say it needed to maintain a state of good repair.
“One of the most significant infrastructure deficits for the city resides in the roads program,” explains the budget report. “The program’s service level includes a rehabilitation and replacement backlog of approximately $2 billion. Annually, the city should be investing approximately $180 M on road and bridge capital improvement. In 2017, the city is spending approximately $72 M gross on the roads capital program.”
In fact, that is $4 million less than this year’s road allocation. And while over $11 million will be used to build new road capacity next year, that spending is also $4 million less than in 2016.
The budget report reminds councillors that the provincial government “has made clear that future funding commitments to municipalities will be based on focused investments which address needs rather than wants.” Like those of the federal government, those subsidies are increasingly being directed to public transit rather than more roads to support intensified land use rather than the sprawl-type development that has put municipalities into such a deep fiscal hole.