User fees to rise for some Toronto services

Toronto residents will have to dole out a bit more for the convenience of paying a parking ticket by phone or online in 2010, as user fees for some popular city services are set to increase.

Nearly one million people a year use the city'sautomated system to pay for parking tickets, and starting Jan. 1, they'll have to pay $2 for the service 50 cents more than thecurrent fee.

Toronto will also charge a $50 fee to residents who have bought a new home and need to create a property tax account.People with existing property tax accounts will becharged $50 to make changes to their bills $15 more than it cost to make billing changes in 2009.

The increased feeswill bring in revenue to help fight a funding shortfallthat couldhit $500 million in 2010.

By law, municipalities cannot run a budget deficit, so the city has to either increase revenues through taxes and fees, or cut expenditures.

A property tax hike is also likely when the city introduces it operating budget in February. Homeownersexperienced afour per cent increase in 2009,increasing taxes by about $89 on the average house.

City agencies and boardsare also being asked to help the city balance its budget by cutting spending byfive per cent but somecity boards have balked at theproposed cuts and insteadasked for budget increases in 2010.

Earlier this month, the Toronto Police Service board approved afive per cent increase to its operating budget. The Toronto Zoo board, the Toronto Public Library board and Toronto Public Health have also asked the city for more funding next year.