As anticipated, the City of Winnipeg’s preliminary 2025 budget includes a property tax hike of almost six per cent.
The city released budget details Wednesday, which included the hefty increase, which has received criticism since it was first reported last week.
Mayor Scott Gillingham said the 5.95 per cent bump– which the city estimates to be an increase of about $10 a month for the average homeowner — means Winnipeg will continue to have the lowest property taxes of any major city in the country.
The increase, city officials said, is so far slated only for 2025, with increases expected to drop back to 3.5 per cent in 2026 and 2027 — as originally budgeted in the previous multi-year plan.
A typical, or ‘sample’ household, assessed at $371,000 in 2025, will see a property tax increase of $121, the city said.
The document also includes what the city calls ‘historic investments’ in public safety and road works.
“This budget is in direct response to what Winnipeggers have told us are their priorities in multiple surveys and through feedback received at City Hall,” Gillingham said.
“With 65,000 new residents added to our city in just the past three year, the strain on our services is real. This budget ensures we’re taking action to meet these growing demands while setting a path for a safer, more sustainable future.
“We need more revenue, full stop.”
On the public safety front, the budget includes funding for 36 new police officers over two years, as well as 15 new community safety officers for Winnipeg Transit.
The police budget calls for the addition of two more cruisers, bringing the size of the city’s total fleet to 30. One cruiser is expected to be added to the fleet late next year, with the other in 2026.
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A further $1 million is tagged for youth recreation programming for high-needs neighbourhoods, as well as funding for removing dangerous debris from municipal parks.
Coun. Jeff Browaty, Winnipeg’s finance chair, said the budget ‘reflects the needs and priorities of our residents.’
“This budget gives our first responders the tools they need to protect our city and our residents,” he said.
“It also invents in proactive measures like youth recreation to address root causes of crime and create safer communities.”
The preliminary budget includes $1 billion for street renewal over the next six years — $169.3 million of which is slated for 2025.
Winnipeg Transit is also seeing a bump to its operating subsidy, growing to a record $124 million, ahead of the city’s revamped transit rollout next year.
“Winnipeg’s streets and transit system are the backbone of our city,” Gillingham said. “These investments will improve mobility, safety and quality of life for everyone in our growing community.”
Among the streets-related budget items is a pilot project slated to begin in October of next year, which revises the accumulation of snow from 10 to 15 centimetres before snow-clearing will take place. The project will cover all residential streets — and only residential streets — throughout Winnipeg.
City officials said there’s no price tag attached to the initiative because it’s impossible to predict how much snow will fall, but ideally, it could eliminate one snow-clearing event in hopes of saving the city some money.
“I want to be clear that we have not changed the service standard for snow clearing permanently — this is a pilot project,” the mayor said.
“(It) probably won’t make that much difference for many streets, but that remains to be seen — and that’s why we’re running the pilot project.
“We’ll see after the pilot project whether we need to change the service level or not. Please be patient… we want to provide good service to the citizens of Winnipeg, (but) we also want to be responsible as well.”
The preliminary budget update is being tabled Wednesday, but should take six weeks before it’s finalized, with approval and adoption expected to take place Jan. 29, 2025.
In a release Wednesday morning, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) called for the city to cut spending rather than implementing the property tax increase.
“Winnipeg taxpayers can’t afford a massive tax hike,” CTF prairie director Gage Haubrich said.
“Families are dealing with sky-high grocery prices and the last thing they need are city councillors trying to grab more money from their pockets.”
Mayor and council, the CTF said, already receive higher salaries than their counterparts with the province. Gillingham was paid $217,791 last year — compared with premier Wab Kinew’s $196,000, while councillors receive almost $15,000 more than the base pay for MLAs.
“The best place to start to find savings is to make sure that mayor and council aren’t making more than the people in charge of running the province,” Haubrich said.
“Gillingham needs to roll up his sleeves and find some savings because Winnipeggers can’t afford his massive tax hike.”
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