By Peter Squire
When the City of Winnipeg’s first multi-year operating and capital budget (2020-2023) was finally unveiled last week, a number of the fears expressed leading up to it did not materialize. One such concern expressed that would have directly impacted condominium property owners, was the proposal to remove garbage pick-up from multi-family properties. A standing policy committee had originally suggested the move, but it never made sense for a number of reasons and was rightly removed.
Another key concern for property owners is certainty for Mayor Bowman to keep his pledge in limiting annual property tax increases to 2.33% for the next four years. An important consideration to this is there are no plans to increase the frontage levy which some view as another form of property tax. There is also no change or increase in the water and sewage dividend rate.
Speaking of property taxes, a significant portion of your property tax bill has nothing to do with the City of Winnipeg, as Manitoba is heavily reliant on residential and commercial property to pay for delivering education in this province. From what we are seeing, school boards are containing their proposed property tax increases this year to very modest amounts, with Seven Oaks even proposing a slight reduction. Highest thus far is Winnipeg School Division at 2.13 per cent, with others bringing in increases closer to 1 per cent or lower as is the case with St. James-Assiniboia (0.26), River East Transcona (0.89) and Seine River (0.93).
This year, the province of Manitoba has called for a limit in property tax increases to 2 per cent. Long-term they are committed to removing education taxes off of property. Manitoba REALTORS® have been on record for years saying how unfair it is to have a core provincial mandated service such as education paid for in part on the backs of property owners.
Important to property owners and all Winnipeggers is investment in key infrastructure to make
our city more accessible, economically viable and livable. This commitment to investing in infrastructure continues in this four-year budget with the 2.33 per cent property tax increase dedicated entirely to funding road renewal and financing the Southwest Rapid Transitway.
The 2020 budget for local and regional road renewal is $130 million — the largest annual investment in roads in Winnipeg’s history. Further out, the plan is to invest more on an annual basis in subsequent years ($847 million from 2020 to 2025).
As finance chair Councillor Scott Gillingham said at a Chamber breakfast this week, this long-term investment in roads equates to over 900 lane-kilometers in construction — greater than the distance from Winnipeg to Minneapolis. Most Winnipeggers know the need and have seen new road construction projects.
There are two new fire stations included in this budget to be built in Waverley West and in Windsor Park (consolidation of old Windsor Park and Marion Street stations). There is still uncertainty on how to fund the Waverley West station, as $7 million has been removed from the revenue earned from impact fees to fund it, and a court decision has yet to be rendered on whether the City of Winnipeg has the authority to impose impact fees.
Strategic investment in infrastructure leads to building and growing the tax base. One area that WinnipegREALTORS® has been pushing towards — as have other organizations as part of an industry advisory group — is on expediting and improving the permit/inspections process. Faster and more consistent and reliable processing of building and occupancy permits is necessary to accomplish bringing new development and revenue to the city.
To this end, the preliminary budget has earmarked over $4 million from the permit reserve to digitize the permit process so everything will be available online. So far, applicants can go online and check the stage of their permit application and inspection status.
As stated in the capital budget, project outcomes will support the move toward the digitization of all online permitting and inspections processes, providing improved efficiency by actively managing workflows and workforce monitoring; enabling multiple departments, agencies, and jurisdictions to share data across a single database; supporting online permit and appointment requests; and,
providing enhanced customer reporting and document management.
Beyond the permit process, WinnipegREALTORS® is keenly interested and involved in two important strategies that the planning department is working on — the employment lands and the residential infill strategies. These are important to economic development while accommodating a city population that will grow to one million in the future.
The City needs to give the property, development and planning department the needed resources and staff support in this multi-year budget to complete them in a timely manner in order to provide Winnipeg with more certainty, direction and guidance on how we will provide for and develop our residential and industrial or employment lands. Currently there is no strategy in place to bring unproductive employment land back into use through developing an effective brownfield strategy.
Another area near and dear to Winnipeggers and REALTORS® — given how they are strong ambassadors in selling the city, not just the properties they list — is the pride everyone takes in Winnipeg’s tree canopy. To protect and enhance our tree canopy, the 4-year budget has increased the urban forest enhancement program by nearly $10 million to over $25 million. There will be an outreach to the private sector to contribute more, as Mayor Bowman has already garnered funding support for his Million Tree Challenge.
The move to a four-year budget process affords the flexibility for the City Council to make adjustments each year, offering more predictability for Winnipeggers. It also improves Council’s ability to think long-term and more strategically about what essential services the City should be in and what it needs to deliver.
In laying out a long-term blueprint for the City’s operating and capital plans, how can the City best position themselves for more collaboration and joint initiatives to take place with other levels of government, private sector and the non-profit community, neighbourhood associations, etc?
For more detailed information on the City of Winnipeg’s 2020-23 budget go to winnipeg.ca/budget
Peter Squire is WinnipegREALTORS® Vice-President, External Relations & Market Intelligence.