Winnipeggers face 5.95 per cent property tax increase in budget

Winnipeggers will be paying more property taxes than expected next year.

The 2025 City of Winnipeg preliminary budget unveiled Wednesday shows residents will pay a 5.95 per cent property tax increase, up from the 3.5 per cent increase promised by Mayor Scott Gillingham during his campaign.

The increase means a Winnipeg homeowner whose property is assessed at $371,000 would pay an additional $121/year or $10/month.

“This is a really, really difficult decision,” said Gillingham. “I don’t take lightly that for the first time in decades that we have a tax increase of this amount.”

The mayor added he would rather do what he believes the citizens of Winnipeg need for the future than protect himself and others from public criticism.

“We need more revenue, full stop,” he said. “We have to continue to control costs, and we are trying to do that. We are going to make every effort to do that.”

Gillingham said Winnipeg is at a point with population growth, service, and infrastructure demands that the city needs to raise that revenue on its own.

Winnipeg is coming into 2025 with a $9.1 million deficit, brought down from $23.4 million due to the city deciding to drain its rainy day fund, also known as the Financial Stabilization Reserve.

Still, the preliminary budget has increased spending for street renewal and public safety.

Of the proposed 5.95 per cent property tax increase, a third (two per cent) will go to roads, 1.5 per cent is earmarked for essential operations, and 2.45 per cent for public safety and financial risks.

Gage Haubrich, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said it is going to be deeply difficult for some homeowners to pay this much of a hike, and he is disappointed the mayor went back on his campaign promise.

“We’d hope that the city will look for ways to save and hopefully get that number lower for taxpayers so they’re not taking that huge hit all at once,” Haubrich said.

The city plans to put a total of $169.3 million towards roads in 2025, add 36 new police officers over two years, and add 15 community safety officers over two years to patrol transit.

The additional 36 officers is half of what the Winnipeg Police Service asked for last week. Acting Police Chief Art Stannard said the ask was for 72 additional police officers but was realistic in knowing the city wasn’t going to give the full amount.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Stannard called the 36 officers, 18 in 2025 and another 18 in 2026, good news.

“If approved, these new officers would result in two additional General Patrol cars, the first time in more than 20 years that the number of General Patrol cars has increased,” Stannard wrote.

But not everyone is happy about more money for more police.

"I would rather see it redistributed to more community organizations,” said Kate Kehler from the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. She explained that many of these types of organizations are already doing poverty reduction work and could be funded at a much lower level than police.

Eight of the new transit officers will be deployed next year in April; one more will be added in 2026, and six more will come in 2027. Once all the officers are on the beat, the city expects to spend $2.9 million each year.

The 2024 preliminary budget also adds 24 new firefighters, but those positions are funded using provincial money. The city will be footing the bill for new firetrucks and other equipment upgrades.

Finance Chair Coun. Jeff Browaty said the additional firefighters should help with WFPS overtime costs.

The city is also planning to start replenishing its rainy day fund through the $7.5 million of municipal funding announced by Premier Wab Kinew last month.

The city has planned to spend $1 million in new money for youth programming in high-needs areas and $60,000 on needles and dangerous debris clean-up in city parks.

“There are no cuts to services in this budget. No facilities will be closing, and the community grants program has been fully restored," said Browaty.

CUPE president Gord Delbridge said the union supports the expected tax increase because the city is expanding, and services need to be maintained.

“I think all of our members are relieved that we can maintain services, but right now we are still working on skeleton crews, this is going to help,” he said.

Getting around

Road repair is a priority in 2025 in Winnipeg as the city is planning to spend 15.8 per cent more than it did last year. Transit will also get a boost in its operating budget to a record $124 million, largely because the city is going to roll out its new transit network next summer.

But transit riders will have to pay more. The adult fare is expected to increase 10 cents to $3.35 next year.

The city is also increasing funding for active transportation.

Saving money

In October 2025 there is a plan for a city-wide pilot project on snow plowing residential streets. The city is seeing if it can save money on snow removal by increasing the threshold for plowing residential streets to 15 centimetres of accumulation from 10 centimetres.

“We have not changed the service standard,” said Gillingham.

He added the costs of snow-clearing contracts have jumped considerably, and moving the threshold may save the city the costs of one snow-clearing operation a year.

Gillingham said now is the time to try this out and is asking for Winnipeggers to be patient.

The new chief financial officer is also working to find a targeted $51 million in savings.

A budget management team is also being formed to find savings as the year progresses.

Next Steps

Now the preliminary budget has been unveiled, a six-week period of community consultation will begin. The budget is scheduled to be voted on at the city council meeting on Jan. 29, 2025.

City officials are projecting the property tax increase to return to Gillingham’s promised 3.5 per cent increase for 2026 and 2027.