Item - 2018.EX32.4

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1.  City Council approve the amendments to Chapter 771, Taxation, Third Party Sign Tax contained in Attachment 1 to the report (March 8, 2018) from the Treasurer and the Interim Chief Building Official and Executive Director, Toronto Building, including the definitions, administrative changes, and clarification of the exemption provided under Section 771-8K, to come into effect upon enactment and have any and all identified retroactive effects and impacts.

2.  City Council approve the amendments to Chapter 771, Taxation, Third Party Sign Tax contained in Attachment 2 to the report (March 8, 2018) from the Treasurer and the Interim Chief Building Official and Executive Director, Toronto Building, implementing modifications to the Sign Classes, annual indexing formula, and the annual tax rates for all sign classes, commencing in 2019.

3.  City Council authorize the City Solicitor to prepare the necessary Bills for introduction in Council to implement the above recommendations, subject to such stylistic and technical changes to the draft bills as may be required.

4.  City Council request the Treasurer to further consult with impacted sign owners, particularly Class 5 and 6, to review the distribution and balancing of the Third Party Sign Tax rates with other classes and report back prior to the 2019 Budget process.

This report proposes amendments to Chapter 771 of the Municipal Code (Taxation, Third Party Sign Tax) to clarify which sign owners are exempt from Third Party Sign Taxes. It proposes reorganizing and redefining the five existing Sign Classes in the By-law in order to establish more appropriate tax rates for each sign class based on their impact. Part of this reorganizing and redefining of the sign classes includes the introduction of a sixth Sign Class, with the corresponding tax rate, for substantially larger electronic signs with greater impact than other signs. The report also updates the current definitions in Chapter 771 to be consistent with recent amendments to the Sign By-Law, and proposes that the annual tax increase for all Sign Classes reflect the annual rate of inflation effective 2019 and onward.

The proposed amendments result in only inflationary increases to the 2019 tax rates for approximately 88 percent of third party signs, an above inflation increase for approximately 2 percent of signs, and a tax decrease for approximately 10 percent of signs. The proposed amendments will have no impact on the sign tax classes or tax rates in 2018.