The municipal government of Toronto is administered by Toronto City Council and includes the City of Toronto, the primary corporation which implements the decisions of council, as well as agencies and other city-owned corporations which are overseen by a board. A creation of provincial statute, its structure and powers are set out in the City of Toronto Act.
City council is composed of 25 councillors and the mayor of Toronto. Council passes by-laws, approves spending, and has direct responsibility and oversight of services delivered by the city and its agencies; the mayor is head of council and the nominal chief executive officer (CEO). The mayor appoints the city's senior management, selects councillors to chair the city's committees, and develops the annual budget.
The Toronto Public Service is the municipal civil service. The city employs over 43,000 staff, who provide politically neutral advice and implement the policies, programs and decisions of city council. The city manager sits at the top of the city's administrative structure as head of the Toronto Public Service and the chief administrative officer (CAO). The city manager, along with other senior leadership roles such as deputy city managers and the general managers of city divisions, are appointed by the mayor and take direction from council.
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Administration and governance
As the City of Toronto is constituted by, and derives its powers from, the province of Ontario, it is a "creature of the province" and is legally bound by various regulations and legislation of the Ontario Legislature, such as the City of Toronto Act, Municipal Elections Act, Planning Act, and others.
The City of Toronto Act lays down the division of powers, responsibilities and required duties of the corporation. It provides that if the City appoints a chief administrative officer (the city manager), then that person shall be responsible for the administrative management and operation of the City.
The Toronto Public Service By-law (TPS By-law), Chapter 192 of Toronto's municipal code, further strengthens the separation of the administrative components (the public service) and the political components (mayor and council) of the City of Toronto.
In general, the council determines the services provided to residents and develops programs and policies, while the public service implements the council's decisions.
Toronto City Council
The council is the legislative body of the City of Toronto. It is composed of 25 city councillors (each representing a ward of around 96,800 people), along with the mayor. Elections are held every four years, in October, with the mayor and councillors being elected by Canadian citizens who live or own property in Toronto. The mayor of Toronto serves as the political head of the City of Toronto.
The council is the only power able to enact Toronto laws, known as by-laws, which govern the actions of the corporation and/or matters within its jurisdiction, such as administration of the Canadian Criminal Code within its borders.
It also forms several committees, including the Board of Health and "Community Councils", which hear matters relating to narrower, district issues, such as building permits and developments requiring changes to zoning by-laws. Community Council decisions, as well as those of the mayor, must be approved by the city council at regular sessions.
Toronto Public Service
The Toronto Public Service is responsible for providing politically neutral advice to council, and delivering services to the City's residents. As of March 2022, there were nearly 40,000 active employees.
The city manager (formerly the chief administrative officer), who reports to the mayor and the council, is the administrative head of the City of Toronto. While the city manager and public service are ultimately accountable to the council, the council may not give specific direction to public servants, and members of the council do not manage the day-to-day operations of the city. The following senior staff report to the city manager:
Four deputy city managers (including one as chief financial officer and treasurer), each responsible for a service cluster
Heads of divisions including general managers, executive directors and directors are responsible to the city manager through the deputy city manager of their respective cluster
Chief of staff
Chief communications officer and directors of executive administration, governance and corporate strategy, Toronto Office of Partnerships, Intergovernmental and Agency Relations, and the Civic Innovation Office are responsible to the city manager through the chief of staff
Chief people officer
Manager of the Indigenous Affairs Office
City officials reporting directly to the council:
Auditor general
Integrity commissioner
Lobbyists registrar
Ombudsman
The following officials report to the council for statutory purposes, but to the city manager for administrative purposes:
Finances
The City of Toronto represents the fifth-largest municipal government in North America. It has two budgets: the operating budget, which is the cost of operating programs, services, and the cost of governing; and the capital budget, which covers the cost of building and the upkeep of infrastructure. The City's capital budget and plan for 2019–2028 is CA$40.67 billion.
Under the City of Toronto Act, the Toronto government cannot run a deficit for its annual operating budget. The city's revenues include 33% from property tax, 6% from the land transfer tax, subsidies from the Canadian federal government and the Ontario provincial government, and the rest from other revenues and user fees.
The council has set the limit of debt charges not to exceed 15% of the property tax revenues. The city has an AA credit rating from Standard & Poor's, and an Aa1 credit rating from Moody's. Toronto's debt stood at $3.9 billion at the end of 2016. Capital expenditures are 39% funded from debt.
History
The City of Toronto was incorporated in 1834, succeeding York, which was administered directly by the then-province of Upper Canada. The new city was administered by an elected council, which served a one-year term. The first mayor, chosen by the elected councillors, was William Lyon Mackenzie. The first by-law passed was An Act for the preventing & extinguishing of Fires. The first mayor directly elected to the post was Adam Wilson, elected in 1859. Through 1955 the term of office for the mayor and the council was one year; it then varied between two and three years until a four-year term was adopted starting in 2006. (See List of Toronto municipal elections.)
To finance operations, the municipality levied property taxes. In 1850, Toronto also started levying income taxes. Toronto levied personal income taxes until 1936, and corporate income taxes until 1944.
Until 1914, Toronto grew by annexing neighbouring municipalities such as Parkdale and Seaton Village. After 1914, Toronto stopped annexing bordering municipalities, although some municipalities overwhelmed by growth requested it. After World War II, an extensive group of suburban towns and townships surrounded Toronto. Change to the legal structure came in 1954, with the creation of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (known more popularly as "Metro"). This new metropolitan government, which encompassed Toronto and the surrounding Towns of Forest Hill, Leaside, Long Branch, Mimico, New Toronto, Swansea, Weston, and the Townships of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, and York, was created by the Government of Ontario to support suburban growth. This new municipality could borrow money on its own for capital projects and it received taxes from all municipalities including Toronto, which meant that the Toronto tax base was now available to support the suburban growth. The new metropolitan government built highways, water systems and public transit, while the thirteen townships, villages, towns, and cities continued to provide some local services to their residents. To manage the yearly upkeep of the new infrastructure, the new Metro government levied its own property tax, collected by the local municipalities.
On January 1, 1967, several of the smaller municipalities were amalgamated with larger ones, reducing their number to six. Forest Hill and Swansea became part of Toronto; Long Branch, Mimico, and New Toronto joined Etobicoke; Weston merged with York, and Leaside amalgamated with East York. The five restructured municipalities outside Toronto were given borough status and later upgraded (except East York) to city status between 1979 and 1983. This arrangement lasted until 1998.
Divisions, agencies and corporations
Toronto City Council is the primary decision making body defined in the City of Toronto Act. A number of divisions (core public service, or "Toronto Public Service"; responsible to the city council through the city manager), agencies (responsible through their relevant boards), and corporations (municipally owned through the city council) administer programs and services as directed by the city council.