City taxpayers facing more than 100 new fees

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This article was published 02/03/2016 (3823 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Get ready to pay more fees, Winnipeg.

Almost 100 new fees, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars, dealing with development and variances are being proposed in the 2016 budget.

On top of those increases, animal adoption fees ($40), as well as increased fees for cemeteries are also proposed in the city’s list of new fee increases that are above inflation.

But on the bright side, you soon may be able to get married at city hall.

Mayor Brian Bowman and his executive policy committee tabled the preliminary capital and operating budget at a special meeting this afternoon, which includes a 2.33 per cent increase in property taxes and a frontage levy increase from $4.35 per frontage foot to $5.45 per frontage foot.

The property tax increase represents about $38 more on an average home assessed at $288,000 in 2016 and the frontage levy increase adds about $55 annually for a 50-foot wide lot.

The increase in development fees such as a $750 fee for historical building review appeal or a $11,250 to rezone land or zoning text amendment, represents an attempt to “recover costs,” explained finance chairman Coun. Marty Morantz.

“We are recovering our actual cost (for these services) from the people who pay for these fees,” said Morantz during a budget briefing Wednesday.

He said the new fees will bring in an additional $8 million to the city coffers.

Morantz said he does not feel the increase in fees will be a disincentive to builders or property developments.

The frontage levy increase, which increased by 16 per cent in 2015 and increased by about 20 per cent this year, is a product of the city’s limited revenue tools, Morantz said.

That increase will bring in $13 million, of which $3 million will go to operating costs such as the repair and replacement of streets and sidewalks.

The other $10 million will go to bridge renewal.

“This city of Winnipeg has limited tools on the revenue side, we are not broadening the definition,” Morantz said when asked why the frontage levy is now going to infrastructure.

Also being proposed is $6 million to go towards the completion of Freedom Road to building an all-weather road connecting the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation to the mainland. The city had already committed $4 million in 2015 and the $6 million will complete their commitment to the project.

Another proposed new fee will allow people to have a civil marriage ceremony conducted at city hall at a cost of $500.

Councillors were given a briefing on the proposed budget during a closed door meeting this morning, which Coun. Russ Wyatt spoke to the Free Press about.

“This budget is an abomination and a shell game,” an angry Wyatt (Transcona) said.

Wyatt said the frontage levy hike is an increase of more than 20 per cent.

Wyatt said councillors were told the additional funds raised from the frontage levy, $13.2 million, will be used to balance the budget.

There will be only a slight increase in the amount set aside for regional and local street repairs, Wyatt said — $105 million compared to $103 million last year.

Wyatt said the increases for local and regional street work does not keep up with construction inflation and is far less than what should be spent, adding two percentage points of the property tax increase should be dedicated to that work.

“After inflation is taken into account, we’ll be spending less on road work this year than we did in 2015,” Wyatt said.

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