Low taxes not responsible for long waits to restore water, Tory says

WATCH ABOVE: John Tory refutes a suggestion that keeping property taxes at or below the rate of inflation was responsible for the backlog of frozen water pipe calls the city has dealt with this winter.

TORONTO – The city has received over 3,100 ‘no water’ calls in less than a month but Mayor John Tory said boosting resources through increased property taxes won’t help.

The mayor shot back at a question Thursday morning asking whether the city’s difficulty in dealing with no water calls has anything to do with constant promises by Tory and previous mayors to keep property tax increase at the rate of inflation or below.

“I completely reject the premise of your question,” Tory said. “The level of property taxation in this city has nothing to do with our ability to go and solve the problems that have been created in the last few days.”

The city has investigated 2,602 of the 3,155 no water calls received since February 14. Of these, some were found to be duplicates, and most, according to Tory, were found to be a problem of pipes frozen inside the home and not the city’s responsibility.

But when the pipes outside of the home are frozen, Tory said the long waits are due to the complex work involved and not a lack of resources.

“When we see how long it’s taken, it is a function not of inadequate city resources, but it is a function of the fact that every one of those cases in the coldest February we’ve had in the history of our city, take quite a long time to do.

The city has hooked up a “highline” – a temporary fix which gives a house access to its neighbour’s water – to 423 homes. Another 187 homes still need to be thawed and 281 thaws have been finished.

“We’re not talking here about a hair-dryer being applied for ten minutes,” Tory said. “We’re talking about backhoes digging up sidewalks after they figure out where the water box is and then the repairs have to be made with the steam or electricity to thaw the pipes and then put it all back.”