City of Toronto - Capital Budget 2018

[Northern Light]

This year I'm posting all capital budget info in this thread.

Mods may or may not wish to break this up, but I intend to do one post per department for those on which I have substantial comments.

I may do a wrap-up post for everything else.

To be clear this is not for the operating budget.

What I will be posting from is the preliminary budget analyst notes with my observations.

For those wishing to follow along, or read many of the myriad details I won't post......

The starting link for the City Capital Budget is here:

https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/budget-finances/city-budget/program-agency-budgets/

They are clustered into 5 groupings.

Community and Social Services
City Building and Infrastructure Services
Internal and Financial Services
City Hall and Other City Programs
Agencies and Other

Feel free to look yourself.


As there are many departments/agencies my notes will be posted over the next several days.

 

[Northern Light]

Transportation:

Notable for inclusion in 2018:

- funds to proceed w/King-Liberty pedestrian cycling bridge suggest construction in the coming year.
- funds for road safety (geometrics) (ie. changing turning radii and the like) are just under 4M for the year ahead.
- rehab of the Gardiner sucks up 73M in 2018, but 200M + in each of the next several years thereafter
- Dufferin Bridge rehab gets 350k this year, presumably design, but has large allocations 2019-2023 (I'm a bit baffled on the time frame for this one)
- Cycling infrastructure gets 8.1M this year. (no clarity on project list)
- Georgetown South City Infrastructure Upgrades get 13.4M (rail path?)
- Scarlett Road Underpass (CP line) starts major funding this year, budget suggests late 2018 construction start
- John Street revitalization does not show spend until 2021....hmmmm


Projects deferred in whole or in part due to lack of funding in capital plan include

- Re-imagining Yonge (Downtown North York) (52M)
- Yonge/401 Interchange
- Assorted St. Clair Transportation Master Plan projects including Davenport and Gunns Road extensions
- Eglinton Connects funding (streetscape and cycling infrastructure along Eglinton LRT route)

Additional Note:

- Lower Yonge (facelift/reconstruction of Yonge south of Davenport) ( 100M)
currently scheduled 2021-2025

Overall Note:

- SOGR (State of Good Repair) backlog shows significant decline over the 10 year plan, with much of the decline in the first 5 years.
Should this occur, the backlog in maintenance would be under 10% of asset value by 2027, which I would consider quite reasonable.

For more details. Here's the plan:

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/9980-TP-2018-Cap-Budget-Notes-V1.pdf

 

[sikandar]

York street PATH tunnel funding doesn’t show up until 2019.

 

[Northern Light]

Parks, Forestry and Recreation:

Overall Notes:

Unlike transportation, the SOGR backlog will grow to almost 20% of net asset value over the 10 year plan. This is unacceptably poor.

Spend-through rate is too low (as low as 56% of what's allocated)

What's in:

3 major recreation centres all due to start construction in/about 2020 (Wabash/North Parkdale, Western North York and North East Scarborough, with the Sheppard/Leslie area only a tad behind.

Canoe Landing, and St. James Town pool are underway and/or funded for this year.

***

Ferry Replacement moves ahead apace roughly one ferry every 2 years.

***

Far too many parks projects to list, some that may be of interest....

Edwards Gardens gets 3M next in 2019
Yonge Street Linear Parks (parallel to Yonge, east side, north of Wellesley) get 2.8M w/timeline suggesting construction late 2020
Carlaw-Dundas Parkette is funded this year
Funds for Queen's Quay park (318 Queen's Quay West) shows $4M in 2020/2021
Oodles of money for assorted improvements labelled 'Fleet' My impression is that this not vehicles but rather park space along Fleet Street but I'm not 100% clear
Langford to Logan parks are funded this year (east end of parallel to Danforth parks, north side)
Leslie Spit gets washrooms this year - Notes suggest Ports Toronto to discontinue fill operations on the spit and full conversion to park use in the near term.
East Don Trail Extension and Upper Highland creek show cash flows beginning 2018 and continuing in future years, likely completion 2020'ish


Notable for Absence

- Nothing for replacement of John Innes Rec. Ctr (Moss Park facility)
- Nothing for the redevelopment of Moss Park
- No significant money associated with long term Parks Facilities plan
- No money for Ravine Strategy
- No money for Scarborough Waterfront Trail delivery

To Look for yourself: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/budget-finances/city-budget/program-agency-budgets/pfr/

 

[innsertnamehere]

Re-imagining yonge is the rebuild through North York, not downtown. Downtown part is largely funded through section 37, from my understanding.

 

[Northern Light]

Re-imagining yonge is the rebuild through North York, not downtown. Downtown part is largely funded through section 37, from my understanding.

Thanks.

Fixed, also added the Lower Yonge project which is listed at 100M 2021-2025

 

[Northern Light]

Long-Term Care

Notable for Inclusion:

George Street Revitalization (includes replacement of men's shelter and related facilities w/new smaller shelter, supportive housing and long-term care facility)
* actual budget number of 557M is flowed under the Shelter Capital Budget.

Notable for Exclusion:

Total redevelopment of Carefree Lodge, Fudger House, Castleview and Seven Oaks homes for the aged is required over the life of the plan at a cost of $421M
None of these are currently on the books. This is a large omission.

Further Details:

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/99e3-LTCHS-2018-Cap-Budget-Notes.pdf

 

[Northern Light]

Shelter, Support and Housing:

Included:

George Street Revitalization (Seaton House replacement)
Land Aquistion for a new, additional Shelter site (7M)
Funding for on-going TCHC community revitalization projects (Leslie-Nymark, Lawrence Heights, Regent Park)

Substantial Omissions:

TCHC - state-of-good-repair still has 2B unfunded
TCHC - existing revitalization are underfunded 125M over 10 years
TCHC- No additional community revitalizations are funded over the life of the plan

Further Details:

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/94ba-SSHA-2018-Capital-Budget-Notes_v2.pdf

 

[Northern Light]

City Planning:

No significant project notes

However, observation that many studies including 'growth studies' and 'heritage conservation district studies' are included in the capital budget.

I must confess to questioning this from an accounting perspective as the studies do not result in creation of, or maintenance of a physical asset.

Surely these belong in the operating budget?

Further Details:

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/912a-CP-2018-Cap-Budget-Notes-V2.pdf

 

[Northern Light]

Toronto Waterfront Revitalization

Included:

Ongoing work on the Bentway
Ongoing work on the Portlands Flood Protection
Future work to extend the Waterfront Promenade to the Bayside area
New Regional Sports Centre for the Portlands (32M) (unclear, is this the arena?)
Bathurst Quay improvements in 2018

Unfunded:

Waterfront Transit (Queen's Quay East, + West Waterfront LRT) (377M, city portion)
Waterfront Public Realm - Including Jack Layton Terminal, and Central Waterfront Promenade (300M)
Multiple Portlands Projects (not ready yet anyway, and likely have funding sources)

Big note:

Waterfront Transit goes to Executive Committe January 2018
Total Cost 2.3B
Strong implication that Federal and Provincial funds are pending
Not clear on where City gets its share

Further Details:

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/943e-WRI-2018-Cap-Budget-Notes-Toronto-V4.pdf

 

[Northern Light]

Toronto Public Libary

Notable projects:

Bayview-Bessarion Library - Construction start in/about 2019, aiming for 2021 completion, this is 1 year late. (relocation of Bayview branch to much larger facility on former Cdn Tire Warehousing Lands.
Dawes Road redevelopment - demolition of existing 3-storey condo, replacement w/new, larger, 2-floor branch w/community hub. Construction 2020, Completion 2022
Perth/Dupont relocation - Branch moves in/about 2020 (anyone know the construction status of that condo).
Wychwood Restoration/expansion - Imminent
St. Clair Silverthorn - replacement on site w/new 2 storey building. Within next year.

More Notable:

St. Lawrence relocation and expansion to district branch remains deferred to 2025 pending master plan for the First Parliament Site.
Parliament Street will relocate in the next 12-24 months to a new and larger facility. No address given.

Further Details:

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/8d0d-TPL-2018-Cap-Budget-Notes-V1.pdf

 

[innsertnamehere]

Scarborough Waterfront trail is getting implemented by the TRCA from my understanding, not the City.

Transportation SOGR is falling significantly, but that is mostly coming from the removal of the Gardiner from the SOGR backlog. The amount of other assets in the backlog will increase.