1999 Licence Fees
The Emergency and Protective Services Committee recommends:
(1)the adoption of the following report (August 25, 1998) from the General Manager, Toronto Licensing
Commission;
(2)that in the future the Toronto Licensing Commission publish an annual report which includes its audited
statements for the information of the public; and
(3)that, if additional funding is required as a result of any recommendations arising from the Task Force to Review
the Taxi Industry, an additional mid-term levy on taxicab owners and drivers be utilized.
The Emergency and Protective Services Committee reports, for the information of Council, having requested that the
following additional information be provided to Council when it considers this matter on October 1, 1998:
(a)the General Manager, Toronto Licensing Commission, to submit:
(i)a copy of the last yearly report submitted to the former Metropolitan Toronto Human Services Committee by the Metro
Auditor reporting on the results of the audit of the Metro Licensing Commission; and
(ii)a revised Appendix 1 to include the 1996 and 1997 figures for comparison purposes; that where the figures show a
dramatic increase, a rationale for the increase be included in the report; and that any decreases be flagged.
(b)the City Solicitor to report advising whether the City can apply an additional mid-term levy in situations where licences
are issued for a 12-month period.
The Emergency and Protective Services Committee submits the following report (August 25, 1998) from the General
Manager, Toronto Licensing Commission:
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
(i)The Committee approve the attached proposed schedule of licence fees (Appendix 1);
(ii)The By-law amendment implementing the new schedule of fees be effective January 1, 1999 and;
(iii)By-law 20-85 be amended to require an annual check of the exhaust emissions of Taxicabs, Livery Cabs and Driving
School Vehicles, such By-law to be effective January 1, 1999.
Background:
In 1985 Metropolitan Council directed the Licensing Commission to operate at cost recovery. As a result a cost recovery
model was developed with the objective of allocating the costs associated with administering and enforcing the licensing
by-law to the various categories of licences. These costs were to be recovered in the form of a licence fee or user fee where
applicable.
The cost recovery model was in use until 1993, when at Council's direction it was reviewed by the Chief Administrative
Officer of the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto who reported that "In general terms it [the model] appears to be
a reasonable procedure of estimation of unit cost by licence category on a full cost recovery basis."
The report also made the suggestion that general administrative costs should be distributed in a manner that is more
reflective of the actual time and resources spent by management, administration and accounting activities which support
specific classes of licence. Further, it was recommended that administrative and accounting expenditures related to human
resources management be charged to divisions based on the number of staff.
Discussion:
1999 Model - General Comments
The following have been taken into account in preparing the model:
(i) An increase of $200,000.00 in Tribunal costs reflecting the anticipated cost of providing separate legal services to the
Tribunal. This is as a result of the separation of the Tribunal functions from the administrative functions as approved by
Council on May 13, 1998;
(ii)An increase of $165,000.00 in enforcement salaries representing an annualization of an increase in establishment of
strength of six Enforcement Officers, approved in the 1998 budget on condition that Toronto Licensing is given access to
the Provincial ICON system which will enable Licensing to collect fines.
Toronto Licensing has been given authorization to access the Provincial system and is currently in discussion with the
information technology staff of the Ministry of the Attorney General on the process for implementation.
(iii)An amount of $25.00 has been included in the cost of each Taxicab Owners, Livery Cab Owners, Driving School
Owners and Instructors' (with cars) licences to reflect the cost of an annual basic exhaust emission check in accordance
with Council's direction that "the General Manager, Toronto Licensing Commission, in consultation with the appropriate
officials, be requested to investigate the possibility of adding to the inspections, at this stage, the testing of exhaust
emissions using the new technologies available for such testing."
The current service provider of mechanical inspections Reg Quinn Ltd. was asked to provide information on the possibility
of including exhaust emissions testing in the current inspections and the cost and time requirements for such testing. In a
letter to the General Manager, Toronto Licensing Commission, (Appendix 2) Reg Quinn Ltd. indicated that the technology
is available at a cost of between $20.00 to $30.00 per inspection requiring between 15 to 22 additional minutes per
inspection.
For the purpose of the 1999 Fee calculation it was assumed that if Council approves the inclusion of exhaust emission
testing there would be one emission test per year as this would probably be the standard that would be used by the Province
if and when Provincial testing is introduced.
If annual exhaust emission testing were approved the following actions will be required:
(a)The By-law be amended to include testing exhaust emissions as part of a mechanical inspection of taxicabs and that the
failure of an exhaust emission test be defined as a failure due to a major mechanical defect. The definition of exhaust
emissions as a major mechanical defect may result in an increase in the number of failures and in turn the number of
Tribunal Hearings. A similar amendment should be made in the schedule relating to Driving School Vehicles.
(b)Licencees in the affected categories should be advised of the increased time required for an inspection and be given
information on the benefits of clean emissions.
(iv)Council at its meeting July 8, 1998 amended By-Law 20-85 requiring that vendors of alcoholic beverages be licenced
effective January 1, 1999. The fees were set at $500.00 per year. No data is available on the costs of enforcing these
regulations or on related costs, therefore, no changes are recommended.
(v)A report recommending the licensing of Complementary Care/Holistic Therapists was considered by the Emergency
and Protective Services Committee at its meeting July 14, 1998. The Committee referred the report along with some
motions back to the General Manager, Toronto Licensing to report thereon to Committee at its meeting in October. Among
the motions to be considered was a motion that "a fee be established for Holistic Therapy Centres that reflect the licence fee
for Massagists and Massage Parlours" and that the General Manager "review the licence fee after it has been in effect for a
period of time so that the adjustments that may be necessary can be made". Complementary Care/Holistic Therapists have
been included in the fee model in anticipation that it will be approved as a licence category and to enable the proper
distribution of costs and the calculation of revenue but have not been included in the schedule of proposed fees. Fees for
this category will be set when they are included in the By-law. For the purpose of the model the fees for Complementary
Care/Holistic Therapists have been set at the same rate as the fees for Massagists and Massage Parlours.
Overview:
The model is an allocation of projected costs, based on the distribution of time spent in performing tasks related to the
regulation and administration of specific categories of licences. These costs are classified into groups called Cost Centres
which reflect a type of activity carried out in administering the by-law.
The four main Cost Centres are Administration, Issuing, Enforcement, and Commission Support Services.
Three types of costs have been identified :
(i)Direct costs - these are costs that apply to the regulation of a specific category of licence, e.g. the time spent inspecting
taxicabs.
(ii) Common Costs - these are costs common to all licences, e.g. computer support.
(iii) Special Costs - these are costs incurred by specific licencees and not by others within the category, e.g. mechanical
inspection re-checks. These costs are usually recovered on a pay for use basis.
Summary of Cost Allocation:
Cost Centre |
Allocation Criteria |
Administration |
|
Common Costs |
Total number of licences issued by
Toronto Licensing. |
|
Cab School (general training excluded) |
Allocated to Cab Driver's licences. |
|
Human Resources Support |
Charged back to divisions based on staff
size. |
|
Pre-Hearing and Tribunal Support
(Management) |
Based on person-hours and charged
back to Commission Support Services
(see below). |
|
Vehicle Inspections |
Allocated directly to specific licences. |
|
Corporate Imputed Charges |
Total number of licences issued by
Toronto Licensing. |
Issuing |
|
Salary and Expenses |
Person-hours - Issuing Division |
|
Police Checks |
Allocated directly to specific licences |
Enforcement |
|
Salary and Expenses |
Person-hours - Field Operations
Division and Complaints and
Information Section. |
Commission Support Services |
|
Tribunal and Pre-Hearing processes |
Person-hours - Commission Support
Services, City Clerk's Department. |
Summary of Method
(i)Salary and overhead costs are extracted from the previous year's approved budget and are amended to reflect projected
inflationary and service level increases.
(ii)Data in connection with the number of licences issued and applications taken is from the previous year's year-end totals
and updated to reflect foreseeable changes.
(iii)Person-hours per activity (e.g. taking licence applications) are expressed as a percentage of the total person-hours
available. This percentage is applied to salary and all other overhead costs to arrive at an appropriate distribution of cost per
category(ies) of licence. The unit cost is then arrived at by dividing the category cost by the number of licences within the
category. For example, see Tables 8, 9 10 and 13.
(iv)Testing for reasonableness is done on selected samples from incoming data.
The model is based on the equal sharing of costs (within a category of licence) for the regulation and control of licences.
This position presumes that unlicenced businesses or businesses operating in contravention of the by-law will comply or go
out of business. In either case legitimately licenced businesses benefit in that a level playing field is maintained and the
businesses complying now share the costs of regulation. This premise works well in categories where there is no limit to
licences or where there are large numbers of licencees to spread costs. When licences are restricted to small numbers and a
relatively large number of unlicenced businesses operate the cost for enforcement can prove quite expensive when
attributed to these small numbers as is currently the case with Body Rub Parlours.
Information from the Enforcement branch indicates that the majority of the time spent on Body Rub Parlours was spent
inspecting unlicenced premises, however, in the model all of the costs are allocated to twenty five licenced locations which
is the maximum number allowed to be licenced by the By-law.
Conclusions:
The above methodology has been applied to the current model. The results are therefore consistent with the data and with
the recommendations of the Chief Administrative Officer of the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto report dated
June 16, 1994.
Historical Data
(i)Council's position in the past has been to adjust fees within a category this was done by transferring a portion of the
costs (as generated by the model) from the drivers to the owners. Council has rationalized this transfer of costs as a
recognition that some of the services provided by the Commission in relation to drivers should and/or could be provided by
the owners, e.g. training. Council's position was that this transfer also addresses the economic inequities within the cab
industries. In the case of refreshment vehicles, Council approved this transfer of costs in an attempt to alleviate the financial
burden on students working as ice-cream vendors during the summer months. The categories affected were:
- taxicabs
- refreshment vehicles
- pedicabs
The attached schedule of proposed licence fees reflects a shifting of costs within these categories in keeping with Council's
past actions.
________
Appendix 1
Proposed Schedule of 1999 Licence Fees
|
1998
Approved |
|
1999
Proposed Fees |
|
Description |
Initial |
Renewal |
Initial |
Renewal |
|
|
|
|
|
Adult Entertainment- Owner |
1606 |
1558 |
1658 |
1609 |
Adult Ent. Attendant |
181 |
85 |
186 |
85 |
Adult Ent. Operator |
1606 |
1558 |
1658 |
1609 |
Adult Entertainment Owner\Operator |
3212 |
3112 |
3315 |
3217 |
Alcoholic Beverage Vendor |
|
|
501 |
501 |
Amusements |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Auto Service Station |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Bake Shop |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Banquet Hall |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Barber Shop |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Bath House-Public |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Billiards |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Boats for Hire |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Body Rub Attendant |
181 |
85 |
186 |
85 |
Body Rub Operator |
3161 |
3065 |
3289 |
3191 |
Body Rub Owner |
3161 |
3065 |
3289 |
3191 |
Body Rub Owner\Operator |
6322 |
6130 |
6577 |
6381 |
Bowling Alley |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Carnival Over 3 rides |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Carnival - Up to 3 rides |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Cigars, Cigarettes |
170 |
72 |
163 |
65 |
Circus |
136 |
39 |
143 |
45 |
Complementary Therapist Practitioner |
|
|
|
|
Complementary Therapist Owner |
|
|
|
|
Exhibit Show |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Exhibition Art Works |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Foodstuffs |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Fresh Fish |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Fresh Meat |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Golf Course |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Hairdresser |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Hawker Pedlar |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Hawker Pedlar Helper |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Horse Meat |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Laundry |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Market Vendor |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Massage Parlour |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Massagist |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Motor Vehicle Racing |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Moving Pictures |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Old Gold Dealer |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Pawn Shop-Pawnbroker |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Pet Shop |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Proprietary Club |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Public Address System |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Public Garage |
135 |
40 |
186 |
88 |
Public Hall |
196 |
100 |
183 |
85 |
Refreshments |
196 |
100 |
183 |
85 |
Salvage Shop |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Salvage Yard |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Second Hand Dealer |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Second Hand Shop |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Second Hand Trade-in |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Service Station |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Special Sales per $1,000 |
|
|
11 |
3 |
Swimming Pool |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Theatre |
135 |
40 |
143 |
45 |
Trailer Camp per month per lot |
20 |
20 |
21 |
21 |
Transient Trader |
500 |
|
501 |
|
Transient Trader auctions |
136 |
39 |
143 |
45 |
Victualling |
196 |
100 |
183 |
85 |
Auctioneer |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Bill Distributor |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Building Cleaner |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Building Cleaner Employee |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Drain Contractor |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Drain Layers |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Electrical Contractors |
183 |
59 |
201 |
64 |
Electrical Masters |
183 |
59 |
201 |
64 |
Electrical Masters Maint. |
183 |
59 |
201 |
64 |
Heating Contractor |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Insulation installer |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Master-Hot Water Heating |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Master-Warm Air Heating |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Plumber - Contractor |
207 |
65 |
217 |
70 |
Plumber - Master |
207 |
65 |
217 |
70 |
Plumber - Master Maint. |
207 |
65 |
217 |
70 |
Sign painter |
161 |
65 |
169 |
68 |
Building Renovator |
192 |
85 |
204 |
92 |
Chimney Repairman |
192 |
85 |
204 |
92 |
Horse Drawn Vehicle Owner each
Vehicle |
157 |
35 |
117 |
47 |
Additional Vehicle |
108 |
35 |
68 |
47 |
Horse Drawn Veh. Driver |
157 |
35 |
117 |
47 |
Livery Cab Owner |
481 |
360 |
465 |
395 |
Livery Cab Driver |
234 |
138 |
177 |
95 |
Rental Car |
157 |
35 |
117 |
47 |
Rental Motorcycle |
157 |
35 |
117 |
47 |
Rental Motor Scooter |
157 |
35 |
117 |
47 |
Rental Snowmobile |
157 |
35 |
117 |
47 |
Refreshment Veh. Owner |
344 |
222 |
317 |
247 |
Additional Vehicle |
285 |
222 |
268 |
247 |
Refreshment Veh. Driver |
106 |
55 |
107 |
56 |
Refreshment Vehicle Asst. |
106 |
55 |
107 |
56 |
School Bus Driver |
157 |
35 |
117 |
47 |
Tow Truck Owner |
485 |
363 |
444 |
374 |
Additional vehicle |
436 |
363 |
395 |
374 |
Tow Truck Driver |
282 |
185 |
272 |
190 |
Taxicab Owner |
5681 |
836 |
5965 |
896 |
Taxicab Owner - Sale |
3479 |
|
3763 |
|
Taxicab Driver |
420 |
90 |
442 |
96 |
Taxicab Broker |
158 |
35 |
117 |
47 |
Pedicab Owner |
423 |
301 |
441 |
371 |
Additional vehicle |
364 |
301 |
382 |
371 |
Pedicab Driver |
119 |
62 |
132 |
69 |
Collector |
20 |
20 |
117 |
47 |
Driving School-Operator |
|
|
|
|
With Vehicle |
281 |
142 |
308 |
226 |
Additional Vehicle |
232 |
183 |
259 |
226 |
No Vehicle |
240 |
142 |
242 |
160 |
Driving School-Instructor |
|
|
|
|
With Vehicle |
281 |
183 |
308 |
226 |
Additional Vehicle |
232 |
183 |
259 |
226 |
No Vehicle |
240 |
142 |
242 |
160 |
________
The Emergency and Protective Services Committee also submits the following report (August 26, 1998) from the
General Manager, Toronto Licensing Commission:
The 1999 Licensing Fee report does not include any allocation of funds for possible recommendations arising from the
Task Force report. Licensing staff have a dilemma. The Taxicab licence fees must be approved at the very latest at the
November 25, 1998 Council meeting so that we have time to print and process the renewal notices and have them mailed
out in time for the renewals which commence February 1, 1999. If Committee anticipates that by mid October 1998 there
will be sufficient information available to anticipate any additional expenditures required by the Task Force report, the
portion of the fee report dealing with the Taxicab Industry could be severed from the remaining licence fees and held in
abeyance until the November 3, 1998 Committee meeting. This creates a very tight time schedule and there will be no
flexibility for additional meetings as the report would need to go on to the November 25, 1998 Council meeting.
If it is the preference of Committee to wait until Council has approved the recommendations of the Task Force and if there
are any proposals that require additional funding, Council could recommend an additional mid-term levy on taxicab owners
and drivers or Council could decide to absorb the additional costs, if any, in 1999 but include the expenditures in the year
2000 licence fees.
Submitted for your information and direction.
_______
Ms. Shawn Downey, Secretary-Treasurer, Greater Toronto Towing Association, Woodbridge, addressed the Emergency
and Protective Services Committee in connection with the foregoing matter.