City hikes in property tax, sewer rates, garbage fees add up to unacceptable

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/03/2025 (187 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If the City of Winnipeg needs more money to pay for its new sewage treatment plant, it should take it from the sewer and water “dividend” it siphons from the utility every year.

City hall is proposing a series of massive tax and fee hikes for 2025 that could cost the average homeowner more than $400 a year.

Winnipeggers already knew they would be faced with a 5.95 property tax hike this year, the highest increase in more than three decades. But this week they found out sewer rates could jump by an average of $224 a year in 2025. On top of that, garbage fees are slated to almost triple from $93 to $254 a year.

All told, including the property tax hike, it could cost the average homeowner $442.50 in additional taxes and fees. That is unacceptable.

Mayor Scott Gillingham says he will propose a slightly lower sewer rate increase. Even with that modification, the combined tax and fee increase would still be $386.50.

The city says it needs the revenue to pay for higher operating costs, including money for more police officers and firefighters, and more resources for garbage pickup. The sewer rate increase is being touted as a necessary measure to help pay for the city’s new sewage treatment plant.

But here’s the thing: the city takes over $40 million from the sewer and water utility every year in the form of “dividends.” That money goes directly into general revenues.

It’s a little scam that began under former mayor Sam Katz in 2011 and has continued under every mayor since.

Every time sewer and water rates go up (they rise every year), the city gets a bigger dividend. It’s a backdoor tax increase that city hall deliberately downplays because it’s not as visible as a property tax increase.

Most homeowners probably wouldn’t mind paying slightly higher rates every year if they knew the money was used solely for sewer and water services, including plant upgrades.

But it isn’t. Tens of millions of dollars of that money is used for general spending, including paying for the city’s growing bureaucracy.

If that money was used exclusively for sewer and water costs, rates wouldn’t have to rise nearly as much as they have in recent years, and homeowners would not be facing a massive rate increase in 2025.

There’s little doubt the city needs more revenues to pay for growing costs. There’s no way around that. Salaries and benefits rise every year and the cost of fixing roads and other infrastructure has grown rapidly.

The city relies primarily on property taxes to pay the bills, which do not grow with the economy. City hall needs a new deal with the province to have access to some type of growth revenues, such as a sales tax or income taxes, which do grow as the economy expands.

But that doesn’t mean city council has carte blanche to jack up taxes and fees as much as it’s proposing this year. It should be doing far more on the cost side to mitigate tax and fee increases.

Overall spending in the tax-supported budget in 2025 is up 4.7 per cent compared with 2024. That’s pretty steep considering the fiscal challenges the city is facing.

The spending increase includes paying for 115 new full-time equivalent staff. Some of that is for more police officers and firefighters. But most is in other departments such as public works, community services and planning, property and development.

Total salary and benefits are up $53.7 million in 2025, a 5.3 per cent increase. The city is also planning to add 226 full-time equivalent workers to its payroll over the next three years. That would increase total salary and benefit costs by $129 million, a 12.7 per cent increase from 2024 to 2027.

Clearly there is room for more robust cost controls.

This year’s proposed tax and fee increases would be devastating for homeowners, particularly low and middle-income earners who are already hurting from higher consumer prices and other inflated costs.

The timing couldn’t be worse as Canada continues to fight U.S. President Donald Trump’s reckless trade war. Trump again paused tariffs on some Canadian goods Thursday but that doesn’t mean they won’t be back in full force a month from now. Any tariffs would drive up consumer prices further and result in widespread job losses and business bankruptcies.

Now is not the time for massive tax and fee increases. Gillingham and city council need to rethink this.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca