Rob Ford can add this win to his curriculum vitae, a politician who follows through on his promises.
Today, Toronto City Council repealed the much hated by Toronto taxpaying car owners
Personal Vehicle Tax (PVT). This measure was one of Mayor Ford's major campaign promises, in fact he stated that it would be his first initiative and it was.
In what many will see as an opening salvo from both sides [the left versus the right/liberal versus conservative], Toronto City Council debated a single issue from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, finally passing the
motion by a vote of 39 for and 6 against.
The six councillors who voted against the measure were Councillors
Davis,
Doucette,
McConnell,
Mihevc,
Perks, and
Vaughan.
There was a great deal of discussion on this one single item, most of it based on the idea that the repeal of this tax should be a part of the budgetary process and not something that the Council should rush into. The final speaker of the day, Councillor
Shiner, noted that there had been a surplus for the last four years in the City of Toronto, and that surplus alone would more than cover the approximately $64 million in fees that the City would not longer have in their coffers.
Toronto vehicle owners can now look forward to, effective January 1st, 2011, a $60 reduction in their vehicle license plate renewal fees and those who have already paid the tax for 2011 and beyond (there is a two-year renewal option that many drivers choose when renewing their plates) can also look forward to a rebate for the amount paid from the termination date of the PVT program to the date of paid-up renewal.
After the vote was recorded, newly elected
Speaker of the Toronto City Council, Frances Nunziata, was heard to say "
Merry Christmas to all our constituents."
A second Ford initiative, just voted on minutes ago, was to
reduce the budgets of each City Councillor's by $20,000, from the current $50,445 down to $30,000 effective January 1, 2011, thereby saving Toronto approximately $900,000 a year, was passed by a vote of 40 to 5.
