Toronto councillors meet today to discuss a budget based on social programs and housing while trying to close a $1.8 billion budget gap, partly through a 9.5 percent tax on homeowners - the highest property tax increase since amalgamation.

The budget - the first presented by Mayor Olivia Chow - freezes TTC fares, boosts library spending, and includes money to build more affordable housing.

While the mayor sought to trim the budget increase for the Toronto Police Service, she said Tuesday she would support a council motion to give the force a $20 million increase as advised by the Toronto Police Services Board in December, and said her support to restore the full increase follows indications that other levels of government will help Toronto with its unique policing needs, although she has not yet mentioned the amount they will commit.

Shortly after Wednesday’s meeting, where councillors were asking questions about the police budget, a protester was removed from the gallery for disrupting the meeting, shouting for the police to be defunded and canceled.

Before the budget, some activists said they wanted to see less money for the police, while the service itself argued it has been underfunded for decades, with increases often falling short of inflation.

While the proposed budget asks residents to pay more, Chow said the increase amounts to less than a dollar a day for the average family. Staff proposed a nine percent increase, plus a 1.5 percent bump for the city-building fund. After budget consultations, Chow revised the staff-proposed increase to eight percent, raising the overall increase to 9.5 percent.

Speaking to reporters before the meeting, she reiterated that she inherited a financial block, with an opening budget shortfall of $1.8 billion.

Chow described the fact that she was able to secure money from other levels of government to help with housing and asylum seekers, but said it is still not enough.

Chow said, "Even with all our hard work, we still need to increase revenue for vital city services to improve."

She pointed out that the property tax increase for multi-residential buildings is held at 3.75 percent so tenants don’t feel the impact.

However, she said the increase is necessary if people want to see a different city that they voted for.

Chow said, "People voted to get the city back on track to change course to fix those potholes, invest in public transit and housing." We can’t do that without paying for it, it won’t just work, that’s magical thinking, we’ve been doing that for a while."

However, she pledged the city will track its progress to make sure taxpayers get what they pay for.

Chow said, "When you go out to buy something, you get something back. When you pay for a service, you want to see the service and receive the service, you want good service." "When people are asked to pay one additional dollar on their property tax, yes, they want to see results, so we will track our service levels. We will set goals and timelines with clear targets so we can do this, because Torontonians deserve nothing less."

Although Chow backed down on the police budget, it remains to be seen if other items left out of the budget will be saved, notably the wind-sweeping program that helps residents clear leftover snow at the foot of driveways by city plows. Several councillors said the program allows seniors to stay in their homes and said they would fight to keep it."