‘We’re all drowning’: Inside the chaos of Toronto’s vacant home tax rollout

Newly released internal emails are offering a glimpse of the chaos behind Toronto’s vacant home tax rollout that had staff feeling like they were “drowning.”

The emails, obtained by Global News under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, show how public servants and city councillors worked not only to respond to thousands of complaints, but also to find reliable information during a “very fluid” time.

Councillors grilled staff over the botched rollout this spring, which saw many taxpayers erroneously billed, before voting in favour of an overhaul; the city has apologized for the implementation of this year’s program, and waived late fees related to it.

“I’d like to learn more about whether taxpayers will have to pay the late penalty fee. Most of my time wasn’t filing out their notice of complaint. It was answering their questions about the by-law … I’m sure I answered questions correctly yesterday – but now I hear the penalty will be waived???” one staffer wrote on the morning of April 5.

“I know things are up in the air right now about this and how it’s going to be handled in future, but any info about this program is appreciated.”

The city’s vacant home tax was brought in at the end of 2021 to try and push investors to either sell empty homes or put them on the rental market. If their home was deemed vacant, they would face an extra tax.

Administering it ran into issues this year. The city extended the deadline to declare from its original Feb. 29 date after 63 per cent of homes filled in the paperwork.

Many residents said they didn’t understand that the city required them to make a declaration every year, while others said they were billed even after making one.

Staff have admitted there were fundamental problems in the design of the program.

Stephen Conforti, the city’s chief financial officer, told councillors in April that the vacant home tax was designed to require a bill be issued by the end of March if someone hadn’t made a declaration.

“That is an absolute flaw in the program design. There needs to be discretion to hold off on the issuance of those bills if we do not achieve a declaration target,” he said.

The communications package obtained by Global News Toronto contains 286 pages of emails exchanged among revenue services staff and other city departments between April 4 and 5.

Those emails reveal staff received at least 16,356 complaint notices during that time. By 5:13 p.m. on April 5, the city had logged 71,923 notices of complaints, up from 55,567 filed by 5:38 p.m. on April 4.

The package offers a snapshot of a chaotic scene as public servants try to navigate the crisis, including one who was seeking an updated notice of complaint figure on April 5.

“I know we’re all drowning. It’s for a media response I’m developing right now,” they wrote.

The documents show staff were working on a number of issues, including updating messaging on a policy email bounceback instructing residents not to pay the late fee, and a question-and-answer script to help staff and councillors when dealing with complaints.

Staff also received several emails throughout the week from councillors’ offices.

In an email thread, a constituency assistant for Scarborough Southwest Coun. Parthi Kandavel wrote on April 2 that their office phone was “ringing off the hook” from seniors worried about the vacant home tax.

“It seems like the bills they have are causing a lot of stress, especially because many of them can’t afford to pay,” they wrote.

“Many of these folks think there’s been some kind of mix-up with their application. Would be it a good idea for us to send you details about each person’s case?”

Etobicoke Centre Coun. Stephen Holiday wrote staff on April 4 with a series of “suggestions,” including making the notice of complaint form easier to find on the website so that it could be printed out.

A staff member replied later that day that it was their understanding that a physical form couldn’t be printed out, but rather an online portal page, which had to be filled in.

The package also includes emails from the public, whose identities were redacted under the municipal freedom of information act.

On April 2, one resident wrote to staff about how the vacant home tax was causing them stress.

“I am quite worried that if this is not cleared, that it will interfere with the clearing of my property as I move at the end of the month,” they wrote.

On April 5, an executor for the estate of a deceased property owner had to write to the city.

“We submitted the form last year as the owner was deceased. I believe we submitted the form again,” they wrote.

“The estate waited one nearly to probate the will. We received it in October 2023. I am currently actively marketing the property.”

Staff were advising others working in the city it would take at least two to three weeks to review and process notice of complaints. They were also seeking a fact sheet regarding the vacant home tax given information was “very fluid” around the response.

Up until that point, staff were being instructed to tell anyone who was billed a late fee that they had to pay. That decision was reversed late on April 4.

Mayor Olivia Chow’s office contacted John Longarini, the interim director of revenue services, on April 4, asking for her queries regarding in-person availability to be escalated.

“Mayor Chow has learned that the drop-in tables set up at Toronto City Hall and across the civic centres is only taking place today. The mayor is asking whether this can be extended to tomorrow as well or whether additional dates can be added for these sessions,” Chow’s constituency affairs and outreach advisor wrote.

“The mayor is also inquiring about the communications roll-out of these drop-ins, specifically where were the drop-in sessions announced and advertised? Was it flagged to the mayor and councillors office beforehand?”

Less than an hour later, Longarini replied that the decision to have in-person staff dedicated to the vacant home tax (VHT) was made to deal with a large influx of residents seeking help at civic centres.

“The dedicated staff are proving to be quite effective in assisting property owners who failed to make a VHT declaration and are now filing a VHT notice of complaint. It is our intention to extend the VHT on-site support staff at civic centres through to Friday, April 12, 2024, and if required, continue this initiative into the following week while closely monitoring volume demand,” he said.

“We will reach out to our corporate communications representative to update and communicate about these additional in-person VHT support services.”

An email went out that day seeking help for the following week, saying “support is needed at all our civic centres.” Dozens of emails show staff trying to create that schedule, but some had cold feet.

“I’m hesitant to accept, but I would give my availability to help on Tuesday next week for my day in at the North York Civic Centre,” one staff member wrote on April 5.

“Would we be receiving training or any direction for the forms and the assistance we would be giving?”

On April 5, a customer services supervisor with counter services thanked “each and everyone of you for your commitment” to helping taxpayers.

“We have experienced something extremely unique that I had never seen in my 20 years at the counter, you all excelled, and I could not be more proud of your efforts,” they said.

The botched vacant home tax rollout was the first major issue during Chow’s first year as mayor.

“I apologize on behalf of the city. Yes, the design of the program was (made under the) previous administration but you know what, I’m now the mayor. So, do we need to fix it? Yes,” Chow recently told Global News.

“It was unnecessary, it was hard, people were crying.… That’s why I immediately said, ‘OK stop.’ No penalty. You don’t have to pay.… Unless you declare vacant, we’re not going to tax you. We’re not going to ask you to pay more.”

Beaches-East York Coun. Brad Bradford, one of Chow’s sharpest critics on the file, recently told Global News that Chow should’ve stepped in when “warning flags” were emerging.

“When we saw that we only had a compliance rate of just over 50 per cent only a couple of weeks to the deadline, the mayor should have taken action at that point to pause this, re-examine and make sure that we didn’t find ourselves in a situation where 160,000 Torontonians were hit with this very aggressive letter that caused a lot of stress and anxiety,” he said.

Bradford added Chow must get the vacant home tax right for next year’s tax season, and Chow said she would be getting a briefing soon on its planned redesign.

But will it be better?

“Yes. Absolutely. One hundred per cent,” Chow vowed.