How the city budget will affect Elmwood

Elmwood

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This article was published 28/02/2024 (618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City budgets show what a city government values and prioritizes through the tradeoffs it makes with every line item and decision on spending and revenue. Winnipeg’s preliminary multi-year budget for 2024-27 is no exception. Residents of Elmwood and other neighbourhoods should look at this document with a keen eye.

On Feb. 7, the preliminary budget was tabled at the executive policy committee of city council. This is the second multi-year budget, following the 2020-23 budget.

Police spending will increase by about two per cent for the 2024 fiscal year and the snow clearing budget is up 12 per cent. The public works department’s active transportation unit, which is involved in planning, constructing, and maintaining sidewalks and bikeways, is set for a 22 per cent cut in spending in 2024 compared to the 2023 fiscal year. The roadway construction and maintenance unit of public works is set for a cut in spending of six per cent in 2024 compared to the prior year, but spending increases are projected for 2025, 2026, and 2027. The budget also proposes replacing or decommission ing 20 wading pools — the wading pool at the Elmwood Winter Club is on this list.

Winnipeg has also budgeted for work on design, planning, and implementation of the Winnipeg Transit Master Plan, which will redesign the bus network for faster and more frequent service for most bus riders. According to the 2021 census , 13 per cent of Elmwood residents bus to work which is somewhat higher than the nine per cent for Winnipeg overall.

Property taxes will rise by 3.5 per cent , but this is lower than many other Canadian cities. Toronto, for instance, will raise property taxes 9.5 per cent this year . Within Winnipeg, yearly property tax increases have been modest since the end of the 14-year freeze in 2012.

In addition to cuts to some city services, the modest tax increase is being offset by increasing other fees and city charges. These include increasing transit fares by a dime each year rather than the previously standard nickel increases, water and sewer rate rises of 3.8 per cent, and five per cent general fee rises, with exceptions.

Taken together, the preliminary budget reflects the fact that low property taxes are a primary value — even at the expense of having to raise other fees, which disproportionately affect those with lower incomes, and having to cut services relied on by people =in Elmwood and other neighbourhoods.