FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TORONTO, March 19, 2019 – Peter Weltman, Ontario’s Financial Accountability Officer, has just released a commentary that reviews Ontario’s service fees.
The FAO compiled a list of over 1,100 service fees charged by the Province. In 2017-18, the most commonly paid service fees were: Highway 407 East tolls, car validations in southern Ontario (i.e. licence plate stickers), vehicle permits, Presto farecard overdraft fee charges, and fishing and hunting licences and permits.
This year’s commentary also identifies which service fee rates changed in 2018-19, discusses the growth rate of service fee revenue, and examines how cost recovery rates have changed from 2017-18 to 2018-19 for a selection of service fee categories.
In 2018-19, revenue collected from personal property security fees, Ontario incorporation/business fees and birth, marriage and death registration fees is once again projected to significantly exceed program costs. Given the legal requirement that service fee rates have a reasonable connection to the cost of the service provided, these fees could be vulnerable to a legal challenge.
To learn more about Ontario service fees in 2018-19, click here for the FAO’s report.
About the FAO
Established by the Financial Accountability Officer Act, 2013, the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) provides independent analysis on the state of the Province’s finances, trends in the provincial economy and related matters important to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Visit our website at http://www.fao-on.org/en/ and follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/InfoFAO.
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For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Kismet Baun l (416) 254-9232 l kbaun@fao-on.org l fao-on.org
