Winnipeggers will find themselves paying more in 2017 when a number of fees, taxes and price increases kick in. Several tax credits will also end in 2017, although they’ll be offset by some new benefits.

Everything from bus fares to water rates to property taxes are set to go up this year.

Water, sewer rates

The City of Winnipeg will raise the water rate by 9.2 per cent in 2017, from $1.63 to $1.78 per cubic metre per quarter. The sewer rate will go up 6.25 per cent, from $2.40 to $2.55 per cubic metre per quarter.

The budget also included increases of similar amounts in each of the following two years.

City officials said the hikes are necessary to pay for billions of dollars in upgrades to Winnipeg's treatment plants and sewer-water system.

The city will also raise daily basic charges for city-owned and privately-owned metres.

The annual waste diversion fee, which funds programs to help people reuse and recycle, will go up $1, from $55.00 to $56.00.

http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/city-council-considers-controversial-rate-hikes-to-fund-treatment-plant-upgrades-1.2877047

Property tax hike

Property taxes will go up by 2.33 per cent in 2017. The city passed the increase, intended to be dedicated to street repairs, after heated debate.

Critics called the 2017 budget a “shell game”, saying that despite the promise to use the increase to pay for roads, the road budget remained flat.

Bus fares

Starting Jan. 1, 2017, it will cost 5 cents more to hop on a bus. The cost for full fare goes up from $2.65 to $2.70.

Reduced and senior rates will go up to $2.20 from $2.15.

National taxes

Federal child tax credits for arts, fitness, education and textbooks will end in 2017.

The federal government is also cancelling income splitting for families, which allowed someone to transfer up to $50,000 of income to a spouse with lower income if they had a child under 18 years of age, for a tax credit of up to $2,000.

Those lost credits will at least partially be offset by the Canada Child Benefit and changes to Employment Insurance benefits introduced in 2016.