Selinger, Allan share the pain

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Premier Selinger

Premier Greg Selinger and Education Minister Nancy Allan face school-tax hikes on their personal property tax bills this year after Louis Riel School Division received zero increase in provincial operating grants.

Every penny of increased costs will come from division residents, Louis Riel school board chairman Gary Gervais said Thursday.

Those residents include Selinger and Allan.

"We're at zero -- what we got last year, we get this year. We're going to be getting it all from the ratepayers this year," said Gervais, who was uncertain just how big a tax increase the division would seek.

"I don't think we're going to be in double digits (tax increase) -- I hope not," Gervais said.

Allan announced a 2.2 per cent increase in operating grants totalling $25.5 million on Monday, but she also discontinued the tax incentive grants, a pot of money the province had used for the past four years to entice school trustees to freeze their taxes.

River East Transcona secretary-treasurer Vince Mariani said his division is in the same boat as Louis Riel, receiving not a cent more than the $25.5 million it got last year.

"I would like to see where it's going. It's not coming to us," Mariani said.

Winnipeg S.D. is also at a zero increase in funding and projecting an 8.5 per cent increase in taxes, while Pembina Trails and St. James-Assiniboia have not yet made their draft budgets public.

Seven Oaks S.D. is looking at a seven per cent increase in taxes, despite a 5.6 per cent increase in grants.

At least, Mariani said, the province has guaranteed no division would receive less this year than it did last year under the provincial funding formula.

"It is rather convoluted. It is flawed to the extent that a number of school divisions, whether they're in growth or reduction (in enrolment), they're getting zero," Mariani said.

Mariani said River East Transcona hopes to keep tax increases to 2.9 per cent by dipping into dwindling reserve funds, and to having steadily reduced the number of teachers on the payroll the past four years as enrolment declined.

Gervais said LRSD's reserve funds are down to 1.5 per cent and aren't likely to help cut taxes. Allan has told divisions to cap reserves at four per cent.

"They're saying, 'Here you go, make it work,' " Gervais said.

LRSD is plagued by largely empty schools in older neighbourhoods and schools bulging with kids in the suburbs, yet the province persists with its moratorium on closing schools, denying trustees a chance to save money, Gervais said.

"(At) Dr. D.W. Penner School, we're down to 100 students" this coming September, he said.

Seine River S.D. superintendent Mike Borgfiord said his urban-rural division received a 2.7 per cent increase in provincial funding, but without a tax increase still faces significant cuts.

"Where we got helped out a lot was our equalization went up," Borgford said. "It's still not enough."

What will alleviate some of Seine River's tax pressure is new housing that has added about four per cent assessment growth -- new taxpayers sharing the tax burden for the first time.

Allan also announced an extra $4 million to begin phasing in the capping of kindergarten to Grade 3 classes at 20 students, but Mariani said no division has any of that money yet. "That's money the government set aside," he said.

Manitoba School Boards Association executive director Carolyn Duhamel said she's hearing from divisions across Manitoba who have not received any funding increase.

Duhamel said what's been overlooked this week is that last year Allan guaranteed no division would receive less than a 2.2 per cent increase in funding.

That guarantee of some funding increase "has been there a number of years, and it's not there this year," Duhamel said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Why school taxes are going up

EDUCATION Minister Nancy Allan announced $25.5 million in increased operating grants Monday for the 2012-2013 school year, an increase of 2.2 per cent.

The year before, not only did Allan promise a 2.7 per cent increase, but guaranteed no division would receive less than a 2.2 per cent increase. This year, divisions were only guaranteed they wouldn't receive less money than the year before, under the province's convoluted and complex funding formula.

Allan has also discontinued the tax incentive grant -- for the previous four years, the province provided a total of $135 million to entice school trustees into freezing their school property taxes.

With that TIG no longer available, school divisions face the choice of making cuts to jobs, programs and services, or increasing taxes.

Why?

Because the province's share of funding the public education system amounts to 56.7 per cent, and what the province doesn't cover ratepayers will, or watch trustees cut costs.

And with normal system-wide increases running at about $75 million a year, that leaves about $50 million to be covered by school divisions.

Already, Winnipeg S.D. is looking at an 8.5 per cent increase, Seven Oaks seven per cent, and River East Transcona 2.9 per cent.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 3, 2012 A3