When his bicycle store burned to the ground in a fire that finished off an entire section of Queen Street West, Gary Duke knew he was facing some major expenses. What he didn't expect was a $48,000 bill from the City of Toronto.

"I'm in disbelief," Mr. Duke said this week. "It's a kick in the head when you're down."

The bill, to cover the demolition of what remained of his building after a February fire that leveled five properties, is just one part of a larger financial impact that could make it nearly impossible to rebuild the old downtown retail district. The fire also destroyed a grandfathered tax situation - when new buildings go up, the owners could face increases of 600 per cent or more.

"We're working to mitigate the costs," city councillor Adam Vaughan said. "We want to protect the district."

Most pressing is the demolition bill, which came over Mr. Duke's transom this month, accompanied by a letter from the city's legal department.

Mr. Duke was informed that if he didn't pay, the city would put a lien on his property and add the amount to his tax bill.

The charge was to pay the contractor who was hired to tear down the damaged buildings on Queen Street near Bathurst Street. Altogether, the city wants $76,952.96 from the five property owners, and Mr. Duke is being asked to pay the lion's share - $46,046.61 plus GST, for a total of $48,348.94.

For Mr. Duke, the charges are a brutal education on the logistics of disaster.

"What kind of justice is this?" he asks. "Your building burns down, then they charge you $46,000. What's next? I paid my taxes, and they covered fire trucks and the water. Why do I get charged for demolition? And what demolition was there to do? My building was completely collapsed. The fire did it all for them. There was nothing for the engineers to do, except maybe pour some water on it."