Community groups and councillors alike are applauding a recently approved city-wide billboard bylaw and tax. Passed by a 29 to 12 vote, the new tax is expected to generate roughly $10 million annually on outdoor advertising in the city.
“It was fantastic,” said Rami Tabello, founder of IllegalSigns.ca, regarding the recent decision. “It was exactly what we wanted.”
For several years, Tabello has worked to address illegal billboards within the city. In addition to making the installation of new billboards more difficult, the bylaw also calls for dramatically increased fines for illegal signs, Tabello said.
“It regulates signs much better than we’ve been able to do up to now,” agreed Coun. John Filion, who voted in favour of the bylaw. “As importantly, it gives us the money and the regulations to enforce the bylaw.”
The issue is one that effects more than just downtown neighbourhoods. “We have a huge number of illegal signs in the ward, including many in Willowdale,” Filion said. “Even though they are blatantly illegal, we haven’t been able to go in and remove them.”
In addition to fewer billboards in the ward, Filion said the new bylaw will provide new power to dealing with illegal billboards and those responsible for them. “This new bylaw will much more clearly identify the ones that are illegal and get rid of them.” Not everyone is thrilled with the decision, however. “We were extremely disappointed,” said Rosanne Caron, president of the Out-of-Home Marketing Association of Canada, a lobby group for the advertising industry, of the decision.
Caron said the tax put forth by city staff is 21 per cent higher than the industry’s annual profit of roughly $8.6 million. “It’s going to cripple our industry,” she said. “From our standpoint, the tax is unfair and it’s punitive and threatens the survival of an industry that contributes to Toronto’s economy.”
As to where revenue from the new tax should go, opinions are split. “It’d be nice for it to go to public art, as sort of an offset to what billboards do,” Tabello said. Filion said he wanted to see the money first go to enforcement of the new bylaw and secondly to ward beautification projects.
