The City of Toronto is striving to deliver world-class services, create more affordable housing, and enhance mobility across the city. Building on the foundation set by the 2024 budget—which included investments in public transit, road repairs, extended library hours, and earlier opening of pools and park washrooms—the City continues to address financial challenges while planning for the future. With a $1.8 billion shortfall to tackle in 2024, Toronto continues to face ongoing financial pressures for 2025. To ensure the budget aligns with residents’ priorities and supports a sustainable financial future, the City engaged Torontonians through the BudgetTO 2025 public consultation process, held from October 1 to October 31, 2024.

Engaging Torontonians in the Budget Process

Led by Mayor Olivia Chow and Budget Committee Chair Shelley Carroll, the City partnered with LURA Consulting to design and deliver an engagement strategy for facilitating in-person and virtual public meetings. The City also led a public online survey and engaged community partners to facilitate community-led consultations with Black, Indigenous, equity-deserving communities and youth city wide.

The consultation aimed to gather feedback on three key areas:

• What Torontonians view as priorities for the 2025 budget;
• Opinions on federal and provincial funding to support the City; and
• Ideas on how residents can help Toronto achieve its long-term financial goals.

Participation Highlights

By November 15, 2024, approximately 13,077 people had participated in the BudgetTO 2025 consultations. This input guided City staff, the Budget Committee and City Council as they prepare the final 2025 budget and advocate for additional funding from the federal and provincial governments.

Prioritizing Accessibility and Inclusion

To ensure broad and equitable participation, the City implemented multiple accommodations:

• Barrier-Free Venues: All in-person public meetings were held in accessible locations.
• Language Support: American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation was provided at all in-person meetings. Scarborough and Toronto/East York events included Mandarin Chinese interpretation for group discussions.
• Virtual Accessibility: The two virtual meetings were hosted on Zoom, a platform compliant with WCAG 2.0 AA standards, featuring live automated captions in multiple languages.

Looking Ahead

The feedback collected during the BudgetTO 2025 consultations will play a pivotal role in shaping the City’s 2025 budget. It will also inform ongoing discussions with the federal and provincial governments about funding to address Toronto’s needs. For more information on the BudgetTO process and updates on the City’s 2025 budget, visit the City of Toronto BudgetTO webpage.