Trash fees, sewer rates to soar under council-approved plan

Winnipeggers will soon pay much more to get their trash picked up and flush their toilets, after several hundreds of dollars in new fees were approved Thursday evening.

City council cast final votes to raise the annual per-home garbage fee from $93 to $254 in 2025 (prorated to $190.50) and approve a hefty hike to the typical home’s sewer rate of $18.67 per month, which will add up to $168.03 for the rest of 2025.

Both hikes take effect April 1.

Meanwhile, this year’s 5.95 per cent property tax hike, the largest annual increase since the 1990s, will cost owners of a sample single-family home $121 more.

The combined cost of all three major cost increases for a sample home will be $386.50 this year.

Prior to the vote, Mayor Scott Gillingham told reporters the city must raise the fees to cover its own rising costs.

“I don’t like raising more revenue from taxpayers or more fees from ratepayers but we have a city to run. We have services we have to deliver. The cost of delivering those services (is) not going down. Council has to make difficult decisions,” said Gillingham.

The fees passed after some councillors expressed concerns about affordability.

Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) cast the sole vote against the sewer rate hike and joined councillors Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre), Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) and Brian Mayes (St. Vital) to oppose the garbage fee hike.

“This is not a new fee, this is a new tax. And it’s an attack on working families across this city,” said Wyatt about the garbage fee.

Mayes expressed concern about the size of that fee hike.

“This is not a new fee, this is a new tax. And it’s an attack on working families across this city.”–Coun. Russ Wyatt

“This is bigger than the property tax increase if you’re at the average value home… It’s got to be the biggest fee increase that I’ve seen in my years here,” he said.

However, the mayor stressed Winnipeg will charge less for garbage services than many other Canadian cities even after the substantial fee hike.

Gillingham noted he did move to prevent an even larger proposed sewer hike in future years, which would have added $1,000 to the typical household’s annual water bill by 2027.

“I’m pushing for affordability on the sewer rates. I am asking for us to vote on a one-year increase that is significantly less than what our staff is proposing,” he said.

Delaying future sewer rate hikes will give the city more time to secure funding for the $3-billion upgrade to the north end sewage treatment plant, he said, such as a long-term, low-interest loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank to help fund the project’s third and final phase.

Gilroy hopes to reduce the garbage fees in the 2026 budget, over concerns the combined fees could prove “devastating” for many low-income residents in her ward.

“These are going to be huge hikes for them and it’s going to be really tough,” she said.

On Thursday, Gilroy raised a new motion that calls for the city to raise the property tax an extra percentage point next year, then use the added revenue to reduce the garbage fee.

“This is bigger than the property tax increase if you’re at the average value home… It’s got to be the biggest fee increase that I’ve seen in my years here.”– Coun. Brian Mayes

While that change wouldn’t cover the full cost of garbage service, Gilroy hopes it would lead the city to return to relying on property taxes to pay for part of garbage collection, which she deems a more affordable option than a flat-rate user fee.

“Usually people living in low-income communities, they are paying a lower rate of property taxes… So, it’s… more based on your ability to pay,” she said.

The garbage fees are currently set to rise more gradually in each of the next two years, unless council changes the plan.

At this point, the per-home garbage fee is expected to reach $264 in 2026 and $274 in 2027.

The water and waste committee will debate Gilroy’s idea next month.

However, the mayor did not initially support the idea.

Gillingham said adding one percentage point to the tax hike would raise roughly $7 million but would also create new affordability concerns.

Council did approve a call to ask the province to let Winnipeg base fees on assessed property value in the future.

“There has been some feedback (from) people concerned about costs. There have been others who have given feedback that they appreciate council is finally making hard decisions, decisions that have been put off for years.”–Mayor Scott Gillingham

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The mayor said he’s willing explore that idea but not necessarily to implement such changes.

Gillingham said he’s received mixed feedback from Winnipeggers on the combined cost of new taxes and fees.

“There has been some feedback (from) people concerned about costs. There have been others who have given feedback that they appreciate council is finally making hard decisions, decisions that have been put off for years,” he said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.