Builders decry new city fees

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This article was published 03/03/2016 (3540 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Over 80 new fees for Winnipeggers are proposed in this year’s budget and the lion’s share is being levied against home builders and developers.

It is a move Mike Moore, president of the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association, has christened a “new neighbour tax.” One that will disproportionately impact the property development and construction community and by proxy, new home buyers. 

“They call them fees and charges, it is a tax, plain and simple, these are taxes,” said Moore Wednesday after the tabling of the 2016 preliminary budget. “You can call them whatever you want, these are new taxes on new development, so let’s just call it a ‘new neighbour tax.'”

The MHBA touts itself as “the voice of the residential construction industry in Manitoba.”

Over 80 new fees within the property, planning and development department are proposed in the 2016 operating budget, examples include a $4,500 fee to permit a commercial encroachment and a $6,450 fee to subdivide a property. The new fees are expected to bring in an additional $4 million to city coffers.

New developments and subdivisions or encroachments have always been subject to approval by the city, but the new fees would mean it is going to cost a home builder a lot more money, explained Moore. 

“We’re gradually losing our affordability, whether it is the fees to build or your frontage levy or additional new taxes, property taxes going up, we are losing our affordability,” Moore said. “Which has always been our number one advantage when compared to neighbouring provinces and we’re losing that advantage.”

The new fees which target property development represent “cost recovery,” explained Mayor Brian Bowman. This year’s budget also sets aside $250,000 to study and review smart growth funding options including regulatory growth fees.  In his recent state of the city address, Bowman argued fees levied against developments in new neighbourhoods could help pay for the cost of extending roads, water mains, sewers and other services into these areas.

“No one likes to pay more, the public service probably didn’t like trying to find $11.1 million in their budgets, but we all need to do our part,” Bowman said Wednesday. “We have a role to do here and that is to look out for the best interests of all Winnipeggers and we will do our best to work with collaborators in different industries.

Moore believes the danger lies in the fees adding up, making building a new home more expensive – a cost that will be offloaded onto the home buyer. 

“As with any cost, it gets passed down to the consumer, in the end the consumer pays,” Moore said, who staunchly believes that new developments pay for themselves. “If the planning, property and development department is not balancing its budget, there are two ways of doing that: seek out more revenue or two, reduce your expenses. This budget only looks at one of these two options (seeking out more revenue).”

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @kristinannable