Average homeowner facing more than $400 ‘whammy’ Increases in higher property tax, proposed city fee hikes to blame By: Joyanne Pursaga Posted: 6:46 PM CST Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2025

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This article was published 05/03/2025 (235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Facing hundreds of dollars in added city fees and taxes this year, some businesses and residents are dreading a significant financial blow.

In January, city council approved a 5.95 per cent property tax hike, the largest annual increase since the 1990s, which will cost owners of a sample single-family home $121 more.

Two additional major cost hikes were proposed this week. One calls to raise the annual garbage fee from $93 to $254 in 2025 (prorated to $190.50, as it would take effect April 1). A third hefty fee proposes to raise the “typical” home’s sewer rate by as much as $224 this year, which was also slated to begin April 1.

A taxpayers watchdog said it will be very difficult for residents to budget for the “triple whammy” of city fee hikes.

“This is going to make life a lot less affordable for Winnipeg taxpayers,” said Gage Haubrich, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

”It’s a tough pill to swallow for Winnipeggers who are already dealing with a record property tax hike…. It’s going to make it harder to meet the bills every month.”

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The three increases were poised to create a combined fee hike of up to $442.50 per sample home this year, though the mayor is proposing a lower sewer rate that would reduce the overall increase to about $386.50.

Council is also expected to consider reducing the garbage fee hike, but water and waste chairman Coun. Ross Eadie, said the proposal wasn’t ready Wednesday.

While Haubrich is glad to see some effort to reduce the proposed cost hikes, he said the financial hit will still be tough to handle, especially for the people hit hardest by the U.S.-Canada trade war.

“All these cost increases are coming at a time of economic uncertainty. We’re seeing tariffs being hit and that means that many Winnipeggers could be out of work, facing job losses,” he said.

Owners of apartment buildings could also suffer a substantial financial blow from the new fees, according to a property managers association.

“It’s devastating…. We live in an environment of rental control, where only after we’ve (paid) the higher rates, can we retroactively ask for permission to start charging a higher rent based on them,” said Avrom Charach, a spokesman for the Professional Property Managers Association of Manitoba.

“This is going to make life a lot less affordable for Winnipeg taxpayers.”–Gage Haubrich

Charach noted the city’s proposal calls for a $127 annual multi-family waste-management fee per dwelling unit (pro-rated to $95.25 for 2025), which would add about $8 a month per apartment, on top of other rising costs.

“It’s death by 1,000 increases. For a 100-unit apartment building, that’s $800 more (per month) we’re spending (just) on garbage pickup,” he said.

Charach said the next chance to raise the rent to make up for such fees can be as much as a year away.

“Landlords are businesses like all other businesses, except that we can’t recover costs until long after we incur them… we can’t just change our price,” he said.

There was a mixed response to the proposed fee increases among some Winnipeggers visiting The Forks Wednesday.

“Landlords are businesses like all other businesses, except that we can’t recover costs until long after we incur them… we can’t just change our price.”–Avrom Charach

“I understand (the sewer rates are linked to) a big project at the treatment plant and waste management in the city is an issue, but how are we going to afford it?” said Adrien, a senior living on a fixed income who declined to provide his last name.

“We’re already talking about raising property taxes, as it is. I guess what I would (prefer is this happen) not all at the same time or in the same year. How about saving the further increases until next year? I know it has to be done at some point.”

Terry Kearns said he can afford the increases and doesn’t see alternatives, though he worries for those who are already just scraping by.

“I feel really bad for them if there are significant increases,” he said. “What are they going to do?”

Rob Kennedy said the massive upgrade to the city’s North End sewage treatment plant simply must be funded, since delays in building the $3-billion mega-project would increase its cost.

“They’ve kicked it down the road long enough,” said Kennedy.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the city is working hard trying to keep costs affordable for Winnipeggers, but has its own mounting bills to pay.

“As a council, we have deferred big decisions for far too long,” he said. “We know that our budget has been carrying a structural deficit for a long time… we’re making the difficult decisions.”

The mayor rejected any suggestion that Winnipeggers are paying more to get less.

“We’re adding more services. We’re adding better transit routes. We’re adding transit safety officers for a growing city. We’re adding more police officers. We’re adding more firefighters. We’re… building a brand-new sewage treatment plant that will last 100 years,” he said.

While Gillingham has been accused of lacking transparency because he didn’t reveal the sewer rate proposal prior to this year’s budget process, he said council members have publicly noted the rates could rise.

“We’ve been open and honest about what is to come for well over a year,” he said.

The mayor stressed he is concerned some residents can’t afford the full proposed fees, which is what led him to call for a lower sewer rate and support a reduced garbage fee.

Any increase to the garbage fee or water and sewer rate would require full council approval.

— With files from Scott Billeck

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga

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.