Fees in Winnipeg's draft budget amount to 'taxes across the board,' advocate says

A community advocate says the City of Winnipeg's plan to increase fees for a number of public services means passing down costs to the people who are least able to afford it.

The city's draft 2024 budget, released Wednesday, proposesgeneralfeeincreases of aboutfive per cent on average,with further increases predicted for the following three years.

That includes a new monthly 911 fee, larger than usualwater and sewer rate hikes, and a higher planned increase for transit fares.

While city officials say the increases are needed to catch up with inflation, the executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg calls them "taxes across the board."

"We're asking people who are already struggling to pay a phone bill to put maybe one, two, three, four more dollars per month, when in Canada we pay such high rates already," Kate Kehlertold reporters after the draft was released.

Kehlerdid commend the city for keeping property tax increases at 3.4 per cent in its draft budget, but added she would liketo see the levies on a sliding scale, instead of a flatincrease.

On transit, Kehler said she was glad to see the fee for the city'slow-income Winnpassfrozen this year, but said there's more work to be done to make public transportationmore affordable.

The budget calls for transit fares to go upby 10 cents a year, instead of the five-cent annual increases of past years.

Kehler urged the province and the city to bring back a 50-50 transit funding deal that's been on hold since 2016.

The union that represents the city's public transit workers said in a statement it wants funding from "all levels of government" to implement Winnipeg's new transit master plan.

"What remains absent from the budget is increased dedicated operational funding for tangible improvements to transit services that directly impact the riding public," said Chris Scott, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505.

The union did praise the allocation of $2.5 million over four years for the new transit safety team program, and $2.7 million for the installation of safety shield extensions for drivers in buses, among other transit funding.

The city's capital budget, which sets the spending for infrastructure, would go up by $40 millionto $607 million.

The budget for road repairs, however, would drop by $18 million in 2024, to $138million.

Chris Lorenc,the president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, said he understands this is a "compromise budget," with the city still facingdifficult economic circumstances buthe's still disappointed by the drop.

"You see the deplorable condition of our streets, and it's only going to get worse the more that we defer to tomorrow or the next year or the following decade the necessary investments in transportation," Lorenc said.

He said the city must addressthe fact revenues are an issue.

He urged the establishment of a new chief economic development officer who would look into how to grow the economy, as well as a new fiscal deal with the provincial government and "by extension, the federal government."

"We don't have the revenues, we don't have access to growth taxes. I get that," Lorenc said.

But "successive councils over more than decades have said this, reports going back to the 1980s have said this. The model is broken. Fix it," he said.

"You have the capacity as leaders of civic government. You have the ability as provincial leaders, as provincial government to sit down at thetable and fix the damn problem."

Brace for higher taxes: taxpayers' federation

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation praised the city for keeping property tax rate increases steady.

The average homeowner will pay $69 more in property taxesthis year.

The organization'sPrairie director, Gage Haubrich, saidthe tax rate is "exceedingly low" compared to some other major cities, though he added it's still among the highest in the region.

Haubrichalso saidWinnipeggers should be on the alert for higher rates in the future.

"Spending is still increasing at a higher rate than revenues are for the city," he said. "So if the city wants to keep its promise for those low tax rates, it'sgoing to have to nip[those] spending increases in the bud."

Haubrich said the city is right to increase fees, as that puts the costs onpeople who actually use services.

The city's draft budget calls fora total of $1.36 billion in spending on public services in 2024. That'sup$81 million from last year a 6.3 per cent increase.