Taxpayers will see a property tax increase of 2.33 per cent in the City of Winnipeg’s 2017 preliminary budget.
Councillor Marty Morantz says all of the money raised from that increase is dedicated to capital projects like roads and rapid transit.
Morantz is the chair of the infrastructure committee for the city, but he served as Finance Chair for two years. He helped new Finance Chair Councillor Scott Gillingham with this budget.
This year’s property tax increases are inflationary and taxpayers will not see their frontage levies go up for 2017, Morantz says.
“It’s going to be a very reasonable budget, Morantz says. “ I think there’s going to very little anxiety out there about this year’s budget among the people of Winnipeg.”
The police increase is in line with the Winnipeg Police Service’s strategic plan, Morantz said. It’s roughly an inflationary increase and what the WPS and police board said they were going to do.
Morantz also believes people will be happy to see that police costs are under control. He says the sustainability of rising police costs has been a concern across Canada.
City staff have worked very hard to keep costs under control and the costs of operating the city are lower this year than they have been in many years, he says.
