Executive policy committee to meet as budget vote looms

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This article was published 18/03/2019 (2561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The clock is ticking on Wednesday’s special council meeting for the 2019 budget.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and members of his executive policy committee are meeting Tuesday to consider any last-minute recommendations to the budget plan unveiled March 1.

Barring a last-minute change-of-heart by the provincial government, they are likely to stick with the elimination of any significant local street work for this year, despite an intense lobbying effort by the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association and some councillors.

The public works department had planned to rebuild 53 streets and 11 back lanes, but none of that work will be done this year due to budget constraints.

Bowman seems firm on capping the property tax increase at 2.3 per cent, which leaves little room for changes to the $1.12-billion operating budget.

The Manitoba Heavy Construction Association wants council to do some local street renewals this year — either by increasing taxes or taking on more debt, or a combination of both.

Over the past week-and-a-half, several others from the community have appealed to councillors for additional funding for other projects.

Bowman and finance chairman Coun. Scott Gillingham said their preferred way of dealing with the Pallister government’s decision to shortchange city hall $40-million for local street renewal work last year is to cut back on street work this year and next.

Couns. Janice Lukes and Kevin Klein have zeroed in on the $12.7-million surplus piling up under the watch of the Winnipeg Parking Authority as a funding source for budget amendments.

Klein said part of the WPA surplus should be used to pay for some of the shelved local street work. Lukes wants to use the surplus to fund a $650,000 plan for an expanded residential infill strategy.

Bowman upped the ante in his dispute with Premier Brian Pallister when he appealed directly to MLAs in his State of the City speech Friday at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon. If Bowman and EPC are able to find alternate funding for local street work at this late stage, it would lessen the pressure on Pallister to cough up the $40 million and, worse still for Bowman, would be cited by provincial Tories as proof city hall is badly managed.

Other amendments proposed during the committee budget reviews include:

— The Winnipeg Arts Council wants city council to restore the $500,000 set aside for the annual public art commissioning program. The arts council used a ham-fisted PR campaign in an attempt to pressure EPC to restore the funding, but it backfired when Bowman attacked the WAC team last week, reminding it the organization continues to receive $4.6 million annually, which it doles out to various artists and arts organizations.

— The Save Norwood Pool community group wants city hall to postpone the $150,000 decommissioning of the outdoor pool, hoping to get more time to study alternatives to save the facility.

— Several groups and individuals unsuccessfully appealed to the parks committee to restore a deep cut to the city’s reforestation and urban forest enhancement program: a 36 per cent reduction from 2018 spending levels, to $4.5 million from $7.1 million.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca