City budget feedback centred on more funds for key services

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This article was published 10/12/2021 (1547 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeggers made passionate pleas at city hall Friday to devote more money to create affordable housing, increase bus service and protect the urban forest — with one organization suggesting a 7.33 per cent property tax hike to pay for the changes.

With city council scheduled to pass the final 2022 budget next week, dozens of delegates lined up to fight for their priorities at an executive policy committee meeting devoted to budget feedback.

The requests for additional spending show a clear need to raise property taxes to better fund services, said Molly McCracken, Manitoba director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

“The Winnipeg poverty reduction strategy passed by council unanimously last month must be (matched with funding)… Urban forestry also needs attention, (as well as) transit,” said McCracken.

She argued past tax freezes, along with the current preliminary budget proposal to cap this year’s tax hike at 2.33 per cent, have left the city with too little cash to properly fund those services.

“The city must dig itself out of this revenue hole… I’m here to give you some tough love: it’s OK to increase property taxes now,” she told EPC members, suggesting that should be paired with a property tax rebate for low-income homeowners.

McCracken told the Free Press property taxes should rise five additional percentage points this year, bringing the total 2022 increase to 7.33 per cent.

Many other delegates also pushed for more funding for key services, with some arguing the city should reduce the Winnipeg Police Service budget to pay for it.

Joe Curnow, a member of the group Millennium for All, said a “bloated” police budget should be decreased to free up cash for recreation, such as social supports now being offered at the Millennium Library.

“I want to see a proactive investment in community services and in the things that people love about Winnipeg, rather than this regressive move to continually pour more and more money into policing,” said Curnow.

The draft 2022 budget includes $319.7 million of operating and capital funding for the WPS, up from $312.7 million last year.

Others called for more frequent Winnipeg Transit service, including the reversal of a six-per-cent service cut made after ridership plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People aren’t going to go back to transit until their normal services return. We need to restore funding in preparation for a normal return to transit use,” said Kyle Owens, president of Functional Transit Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, the Trees Please Winnipeg Coalition requested another $6 million over three years for capital investments in the urban canopy, arguing a proposed $4-million increase for that department’s operating budget is not enough.

“It simply doesn’t get us where we need to be now or in the future as our canopy faces an inevitable escalation in extreme weather and invasive pests, thanks to climate change,” said coalition member Erna Buffie.

Mayor Brian Bowman noted budget changes can be made before council casts a final vote on the financial blueprint Dec. 15.

The Winnipeg mayor has decided he will “absolutely not” support a higher tax hike.

“We see the rising food prices, we see inflation at troubling levels. Just saying, ‘Collect more revenue and have more money to spend for governments,’ is easy. What isn’t easy is the burden it places on families who are working really hard in a global pandemic to make ends meet,” Bowman told media Friday.

The mayor also said council must consider public safety as it responds to calls to decrease police funding.

“There are folks who want to completely eliminate police services, not just defund but abolish police services. That’s not something that I agree with. I think there’s a role for police services. (Police) do incredibly difficult and dangerous work in our community,” he said.

Bowman said he will continue his push to limit annual increases to the police budget, since council can’t simply write “blank cheques” for the emergency service.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga