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| | By Manuela Vega | | |
| Good morning. Here’s the latest on Toronto’s 2023 budget, the homeless man killed in a “swarming” attack and high mortgage rates in the pre-construction market. | | | |
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| | | DON’T MISS | | |
| Rick Madonik/The Star | | |
| toronto city hall | | Toronto property owners can expect to pay seven per cent more in taxes this year, while water and garbage fees increase by three per cent, Alyshah Hasham and David Rider report. Transit fares, meanwhile, will rise by 10 cents for most commuters. Despite the increases, Toronto’s budget hinges on the provincial and federal governments providing a nearly $2-billion bailout for the city’s pandemic budget shortfall — which comes with no guarantees. “Because the mayor is assuming that money is going to come, this budget looks a lot better than what Torontonians will actually experience,” said Coun. Gord Perks, a longtime budget watcher. Here’s what you need to know. - Edward Keenan’s take: It’s the largest property tax hike in the megacity’s history — and it’s still not enough.
- Another angle: John Tory’s reckless budget strategy is risking Toronto’s future as a tradeoff for short-term gain.
- Go deeper: Under the controversial new “strong mayor” provincial legislation, Tory has the power to veto amendments to the budget unless they are supported by two-thirds of city council — effectively allowing him to pass the budget he wants.
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| Paige Taylor White/The Star | | |
| crime | | It was 59-year-old Ken Lee, known to some as “Kenney,” who died in the swarming and stabbing attack last month that saw eight teenage girls arrested, Toronto police have revealed. Lee died near the Strathcona shelter hotel, where he had previously stayed and where staff remember him as a sweet and quiet man. On Tuesday, his name was added to the Toronto Homeless Memorial among 14 others who died in the same month, Victoria Gibson and Ben Mussett report. Here’s what we know about the case. - More: “It’s a great shame that we have a city that has this amount of loss on a monthly basis gone completely ignored — no system changes, no challenges, no contest to this amount of loss, of grief, of families that have now a hole,” said the director of the Church of the Holy Trinity, which preserves the memorial, Zach Grant.
- Watch for: Several of the girls will face bail hearings in the coming weeks. One girl has already been released on bail with two sureties. The identities of all eight accused cannot be released under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
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| Lance McMillan/The Star | | |
| real estate | | With interest rates soaring, more and more pre-construction real estate buyers are worried they won’t be able to close their purchase. As a result, some realtors are noticing an increase in assignment sales, a legal transaction in which an original pre-construction condo buyer transfers the rights and obligations of the agreement to another buyer, Clarrie Feinstein reports. With condo prices dropping since the February 2022 peak, one expert tells the Star some buyers are willing to get out of the deal at whatever price necessary. Take a closer look at the impact of changing prices and interest rates on the market. - By the numbers: The Bank of Canada raised its overnight lending rate seven times in 2022 to help cool inflation. From March 2022 to January 2023, mortgage rates went from historic lows of 1.5 per cent to over six per cent.
- More: High interest rates have deterred investors from buying pre-construction units, which could see some projects put on pause (75 per cent of units need to be sold before a developer begins to build the condo project).
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| | | WHAT ELSE | | |
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| | | ICYMI | | | The Age/Toronto Star | | | | | | | |
| | | CLOSE-UP | | |
| Paige Taylor White/The Star | | |
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| Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca. I’ll see you back here tomorrow. | | | |
| Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON M5E 1E6. 416-367-2000 | PRIVACY POLICY | | | | |
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