Provincial budget won’t delay Winnipeg public works review

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This article was published 06/03/2019 (2574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Councillors on the City of Winnipeg public works committee butted heads Wednesday morning over a request to reschedule the group’s budget review meeting.

Coun. Devi Sharma wanted the Thursday afternoon meeting moved to Monday morning, arguing since the provincial government is releasing its budget at the same time Thursday, councillors should postpone any review of the public works and Winnipeg Transit department budgets to see if the province is providing any financial relief.

However, Coun. Matt Allard, chairman of the committee, won out as he and Coun. Vivian Santos voted against Sharma’s proposal.

Sharma said the province might make some news relating to the disputed $40-million shortfall in the city’s 2018 roads program, which has forced the city to dramatically scale back its road maintenance work for 2019.

Allard countered, saying delaying the budget review will accomplish little, as the province has had plenty of time to clear the air.

“I’m not convinced even waiting for Thursday and hearing the budget, that we’re going to have a lot more clarity,” Allard told reporters. “We need to get the work done on the budget. We’ve already deferred it for a month. We need to get the job done.”

Councillors on the public works committee will get the first crack at the preliminary 2019 budget, reviewing presentations from the departments of public works and Transit.

Mayor Brian Bowman and members of his executive policy committee, which includes Allard, tabled the preliminary budget last week. It calls for a 2.3 per cent property tax increase, a 3.9 per cent increase in overall department spending.

Council’s standing committees are reviewing department budgets at a series of meetings over the next two weeks.

Council will vote on the 2019 at a special meeting March 20.

To cope with an unexpected $40-million shortfall from the provincial government, Bowman and EPC are proposing a drastic realignment of spending on roads this year: cutting back local street improvements by $45 million (from a planned $66.9 million to $21.9 million), but adding $3 million to the regional road system, which is the only infrastructure area the province has agreed to fund for 2019.

Total spending on regional roads is set at $64.5 million.

Earlier, Sharma said it would be irresponsible to review the public works department budget without knowing the latest financial information from the province.

“We will finally get certainty as to what the province may or may not be committing (to the road’s budget),” Sharma said. “It would be prudent to have (the review) following the provincial budget, not before.”

Allard countered there is time before council votes on the budget March 20 to make any changes, depending on what’s contained in the provincial budget.

After some hesitation, Santos sided with Allard, saying she believes the committee should follow the review process laid out by EPC.

“If there are any significant changes (for roads spending in the provincial budget), then we can have a special meeting” to deal with them, she said.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca