City budget strikes balance between rising costs and growing needs – Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeggers can expect the City of Winnipeg's preliminary multi-year budget to focus on spending cuts on housing, roads and a 3.5 per cent property tax increase.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said those items will be featured in the draft fiscal plan for 2024-2027, which will be released Wednesday afternoon.

The mayor issued two recent updates in which he warned that spending pressures would force “difficult decisions” in the fiscal plan, but he did not rule out new spending.

“Where there is investment, people will see the budget come out … There will also be spending controls so that we can operate within limited revenues,” Gillingham said in an interview on Tuesday.

Frontage fees will not increase and the annual 3.5% annual property tax increase will continue as planned despite fiscal constraints, he said.

“I think Winnipeggers expect us as a council to watch our spending and make the same tough choices in our household budgets as everyone else. For us, as a city, to put a big property tax on the backs of homeowners … I think it's crazy to do that at a time when people are struggling,” Gillingham said.

Number. Finance Committee Chairman Jeff Broughati said consultants working on the budget have reviewed spending “along the way” to help avoid steep property tax increases, such as the 9.4 percent increase recently approved by the city of Brandon.

“(The) budget is what I think is reasonable and appropriate given the circumstances … It's a reality for all Winnipeggers because of the increased costs,” Broughathy (North Kildonan) said.

While Broughati and the mayor have been tight-lipped about specific cuts and new spending, Gillingham said Winnipeggers can expect a smaller budget for road upgrades starting in 2023, the final year of a five-year accelerated regional roads program funded by the municipal, provincial and federal governments. .

“The (2024) road budget shows that funding is no longer available,” Gillingham said.

The mayor noted that the new effort will use $122 million in recently approved federal housing funding.

“Building more housing as quickly as possible is a priority and that will be reflected in the budget,” Gillingham said.

The comments follow two recent city news releases in which the mayor warned of rising cost pressures forcing “difficult” budget decisions. At the time, Gillingham noted that inflation, rising labor costs and pandemic financial shocks, as well as increased Winnipeg transit subsidies, would pose significant challenges.

For example, the mayor's office noted that Transit projected it would need to increase its city subsidy by $29 million to $37 million in each of the next four years, compared to the amounts projected in 2020.

One councilor said he still fears the financial plan will result in cuts to key city services.

On Tuesday, Conn. Russ White (Transcona) said at a council briefing that he expected an increase of about two percent, when city departments believe it should be four percent or more to account for inflation.

“How can you say we will only have two percent inflation?” It basically guarantees cuts to Winnipeg residents,” White said.

He said he expects “quiet service cuts” that may not be clear on a budget date, but could lead to longer waits for services such as processing 311 requests.

White said he believes the mayor's promise of a 3.5 percent tax hike overstretched the budget.

The consultant also attributed this process to the delay in the funding of road projects.

However, Gillingham said much of this information was “inaccurate”.

“The wish list, the request list, is going to be huge, so it's going to take a long time to process it… Everybody's going to put all their cards on the table and try to get something out of it.”– Number. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) on one of the effects of long-term budgeting.

“I would caution you not to run with the information of a consultant who, frankly, if he shows up at all, is always late for the many commitments and meetings he has to attend,” he said.

White rejected this view.

“This is nonsense. The mayor is attacking me personally because he wants to screw up what's going to happen in this budget,” he said.

White confirmed that he was late for appointments, but said the delay was only due to illness and family obligations, noting that he is a single parent.

The budget also responds to funding requests that city departments and community groups have made over the past year for everything from expanded library hours to more permit staff.

Number. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) said a multi-year budget offers the benefit of long-term planning, but also seems to “raise the stakes” for budget requests from groups that want to avoid waiting for the next four-year budget cycle.

“The wish list, the request list, is going to be huge, so it's going to take a long time to process it … Everybody's going to put all their cards on the table and try to get something out of it,” Mayes said.

The City Council will vote on the final city budget on March 20.

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