Author Archives: admin

http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120209/RBC-economic-survey-20120209/20120209/?hub=WinnipegHome

Posted on by
Reply

More than half of Canadians don’t have savings set aside for emergencies, but they are paying down more personal debt, an RBC survey found.

The RBC Consumer Outlook Index released Thursday also found 46 per cent of Canadians believe their personal finances are standing still.

“We are concerned that 57 per cent of Canadians said that they don’t actually have any savings set aside for that rainy day,” RBC vice-president of personal lending Richard Goyder told CTV’s Canada AM Thursday.

“As individuals there’s not much we can do about the economy as a whole, but we can prepare ourselves, our family, for when things turn down in the economy,” he said.

As well, only 32 per cent of Canadians surveyed in January were positive about the country’s economy, down from 43 per cent at this time last year and 56 per cent in 2010.

But the news isn’t all glum as the survey also found Canadians in the last quarter were starting to heed advice to pay down their non-mortgage debt. It found the average person reduced that debt by about 10 per cent.

Goyder believes people are listening to the dire warnings about personal debt in the media and are starting to worry as the global economy continues to struggle.

As for the lack of savings, Goyder said individuals can become too concerned with debt and forget, or are unable, to put enough money away to protect themselves from an economic downturn.

“It’s very good to have a plan because a plan will help you understand how much is coming in, how much is going out and maybe make sure you balance that, saving a little bit for a rainy day as well as keeping your personal debt under control,” he said.

On the upside, about 21 per cent of Canadians believe they are making progress financially and paying down debt is a positive indicator, he said.

“At least people feel that their situation is stable,” Goyder said. “We also didn’t see much change in the level of employment anxiety across the country, which is also good.”

The quarterly online survey of 4,479 Canadians was conducted in early January.

http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120209/RBC-economic-survey-20120209/20120209/?hub=WinnipegHome

street smart profits
North End Winnipeg – McPhillips Ave Used Car Truck Dealer Manitoba
Winnipeg Wedding Catering
www.famouspeopleofmanitoba.ca

Cheaper homes take bigger hit

Posted on by
Reply

When it comes to calculating how much extra you’ll pay in property taxes this year, less really is more.
City officials say Winnipeggers who own properties valued at less than $200,000 may see their property tax bills rise more than 3.5 per cent in 2012.

That’s because of a double whammy: a property tax hike the same year as a general reassessment.

City assessor Nelson Karpa said the city assesses residential and commercial properties every two years to see their actual market value. Officials take 45 per cent of a home’s market value to calculate how much is owing in property tax.
Karpa said the average Winnipeg home has increased in value by 13 per cent in the 2012 assessment.

Karpa said any homeowner whose property increased more than the city-wide average will likely pay more than an additional 3.5 per cent in property taxes this year.

In general, Winnipeg homeowners with properties in the $75,000 to $175,000 range will see a larger increase on their property tax bill this year than residents who own more expensive homes. That’s because the current demand for homes in this price range has caused their value to rise faster than homes in the $1-million range, Karpa said.

For example, City of Winnipeg tax information shows Coun. Harvey Smith (Mynarski) will pay $53 in additional property taxes this year on a home that’s been assessed at $71,200. Mayor Sam Katz, whose Tuxedo-area home is valued at close to $1 million, will pay an additional $27 in property taxes.

The value of Smith’s home increased by 23 per cent in the last two years, while Katz’s rose 9.3 per cent.
“That’s the sweet spot, because you have all kinds of people who can play in that market,” Karpa said of less-expensive properties.

“Higher-value properties tend to increase less in value over time because that’s the way the market works.”
This week, the city unveiled its $900-million operating budget. It calls for a property tax hike amid the rising cost of services such as policing.

The property tax increase is expected to raise an additional $14.8 million to help cover the spending increase.
For the average Winnipeg residence, the 3.5 per cent hike will mean an additional $48 to $60 a year.

However, Karpa said some homeowners will see taxes drop or increase, depending on how close they are to the city-wide average.

City tax information shows finance chairman Coun. Scott Fielding (St. James) will pay an additional $173 in property taxes this year after the value of his home rose nearly 20 per cent.

By comparison, Coun. Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan) will pay $18.25 less on her property tax bill after the value of her home increased by about eight per cent.

Katz said elected officials have no control over reassessments, which are calculated using a basic formula.

He said Winnipeg reassesses properties every two years, instead of every four as was done in the past, so homeowners aren’t faced with sticker shock if their tax bill increases during a reassessment year.

“The problem with that is, just because the value of your home has gone up, it doesn’t put more money in your pocket,” Katz said on Wednesday.

Reaction to the tax increase has been mixed. Some residents say the hike is needed to maintain services, while others say it’s another burden on taxpayers.

Katz said the cost of everything increases over time and Winnipeg needs to maintain and enhance its services.
However, he said, property taxes are a regressive form of taxation and he will continue to argue for a larger share of growth revenues from other levels of government.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/cheaper-homes-take-bigger-hit-141004113.html

North End Winnipeg – McPhillips Ave Used Car Truck Dealer Manitoba
Winnipeg Wedding Catering
Winnipeg Auto Dealers
www.crossfireconsulting.net

Welcome to even more taxing times in Winnipeg

Posted on by
Reply

I doubt anyone who read Saturday’s column about constables who make more than $100,000, thanks to overtime, was surprised Mayor Sam Katz finally proposed a property-tax increase — least of all his foe in last year’s municipal election, Judy Wasylycia-Leis. After all, she always said the city would have to hike property taxes — in fact, she pledged to do that — which, undoubtedly, cost her votes, if not the election.

So on Wednesday, the day after the city’s 2012 operating budget was laid out like a road-killed skunk, I called Wasylycia-Leis for her reaction. It was a timely call, in more ways than one, as she eventually pointed out.

“It was just a little over a year ago,” Wasylycia-Leis began her monologue, “that we were in the middle of a campaign where I tried to have an honest conversation and an adult discussion about the city’s needs, and how we deal with crumbling infrastructure and erosion of services.”

Then, for those with short memories, she outlined her “honest” conversation.

“I made a pledge to the people of Winnipeg that property taxes would go up two per cent a year for four years, and that the money generated by that tax increase would directly be plowed back into the most serious problems facing the city.

“The mayor,” she continued, “pretended everything was rosy and there was no need for taxes and then (Tuesday), suddenly, out of the blue, he’s put through a 3.5 per cent increase in property taxes. And what’s most disturbing is there’s still no clear sense of what’s coming down the pipe and how we are going to deal with a number of difficult issues at the city level.”

Actually, we do know at least one thing coming down one costly pipe — more water and sewer rate hikes to add to those higher property taxes, a proposed transit-fare increase and what Wasylycia-Leis described as last year’s “property-tax increase disguised as a frontage-fee increase.”

To me, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with raising property taxes — that should have happened gradually over the years — it’s that, as Wasylycia-Leis was saying, the mayor wasn’t as upfront about it as she was. That’s what is still missing at City Hall: a sense those in control are being open and honest with citizens.

I asked Wasylycia-Leis if she thought her honesty about property-tax hikes cost her the election.

“I think what cost me votes was the way it was misrepresented,” she said.
Which brought her to the other timely element in my call: an allegation about a campaign within the campaign during the last civic election.

“Robocalls are in the news lots today, right?” she said. “In my case, people received robocalls suggesting they would lose their homes because of my campaign promises on the taxation front.”

But, unlike the ongoing investigation into robocalls made during the federal election, there’s no suggestion there was anything illegal going on.

It was just trying to spread fear about raising property taxes.

And look where we are today?

As an afterthought, I asked Wasylycia-Leis what she thought about another effort on the city’s part to raise money — police officers being ordered to write more traffic tickets.

“Well,” Wasylycia-Leis said, pausing to be sure she wasn’t about to step on a land mine that would blow up in her face if she decides to run again. “I don’t know enough about that to actually comment.”

No, well, I know someone who does.

More than one someone, actually. A couple of former cops.

Mike Sutherland is the president of the Winnipeg Police Association, and I heard him commenting on the radio, suggesting the rank and file are upset; They don’t like being ordered to write traffic tickets en masse.

No doubt.

It’s hardly good for an officer’s image in the community when everyone knows the effort is all about another revenue grab instead of road safety.

Meanwhile, a retired senior police officer of my acquaintance sent me the following comment via email.
“If you thought the cops were giving out cheap shot/questionable tickets before… fasten your seatbelts. If you thought (people) contested their traffic-offence notices in the past… wait for the new tidal wave. And for the greedy, pension-padding constables who truly love to issue questionable offences, this is the best news they have ever received. More court time… most on OT and a bigger pension. And so it goes.”

Which reminds me I should be reminding all of you, cops and general citizens alike.
Be careful out there.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/welcome-to-even-more-taxing-times-in-winnipeg-141004493.html

Guest Blogging Websites
Winnipeg Auto Dealers
Winnipeg Wedding Catering
www.crossfireconsulting.net

Freeze-Frame

Posted on by
1

“Hi, this is Sam Katz. I’m proud to have been your mayor for the last six years. I’ve committed to working within the city budget to meet the needs of Winnipeggers.

“My opponent has promised a two per cent property-tax increase over a four-year term, meaning if she were elected, you will be paying eight per cent more on your property-tax bill.

“Taxing like this will affect those on fixed incomes — seniors and homeowners on the poverty bubble — the most. People should not lose their homes when there are other avenues to consider first.
“Please help me send the message and come out and vote against the tax increase on Oct. 27.”

– Sam Katz, in a re-election campaign robocall on Oct. 8, 2010.
As Sheila Copps taught Canadians in the ’90s, you can’t trust politicians to say what they mean during election campaigns.
Almost 20 years ago, when the federal Liberals were on the cusp of retaking control of Parliament from the Progressive Conservatives, Copps famously promised to resign if the Jean Chrétien government did not abolish the goods and services tax instituted under Brian Mulroney.

Once elected, of course, the Liberals were reluctant to eliminate the GST, a very lucrative source of revenue. Copps, however, spent three years refusing to resign until the Reform party shamed her into stepping down.

As anyone old enough to recall the Chrétien years will recall, Copps reclaimed her Hamilton East seat in a byelection called only after polling data suggested she wouldn’t be able to lose it.

Her reputation never quite recovered from the episode. And a similar fate may very well befall Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz for a campaign tactic he employed 16 months ago.

In the 2010 mayoral race, during the brief window when it appeared challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis was gaining ground on Katz, his campaign rolled out an extremely effective robocall that tied Wasylycia-Leis’ promise to raise property taxes to the prospect of impoverished Winnipeggers losing their homes.

At the time, Katz was already on the record warning Winnipeggers the city’s then-13-year-old property-tax freeze was bound to come to an end. As early as 2007, in fact, Katz said this city would have no choice but to raise property taxes if it did not gain access to a greater share of growth revenues, such as one point of the provincial sales tax.

But since elections are about winning and not engaging the public in a reasoned debate about fiscal policy, the Katz robocall went ahead, insisting the current mayor would seek avenues other than raising property taxes to balance the city’s operating budget.

The following spring, Katz kept the letter of his word by using a frontage-levy hike to help balance the 2011 operating budget. That is certainly another avenue — and one the city had not employed for an entire decade beforehand.

The inevitable property-tax hike didn’t arrive until this week, when Katz correctly noted he has been unable to convince the Selinger government to give the city access to growth revenues — just like former mayor Glen Murray was unable to convince the Doer government to do the same.

At no point did Sam Katz ever promise to maintain Winnipeg’s property-tax freeze indefinitely. Over the years, all this mayor ever promised was to delay a hike as long as possible.

And he kept that vow in recent years, even when that meant signing off on dubious if not outright foolish budget measures.

In the name of avoiding a tax increase, Katz gambled and partly failed in a bid to settle a tax-collection dispute with Manitoba Hydro. He gouged water-and-sewer ratepayers by transferring a dividend over to the operating budget. And he hamstrung the upper echelons of the public service by eliminating almost a third of the city’s middle-management positions. The latter move was the most ironic, given this mayor’s penchant for criticizing the consultants the city is now increasingly forced to use.

Katz really did do everything in his power to avoid a property-tax hike. Heck, he even held onto the freeze when it made little financial sense. Winnipeggers may not realize it, but this city can actually raise property taxes at the rate of inflation in perpetuity and still boast the lowest municipal tax burden among any major Canadian city, save perhaps Surrey, B.C.

But most voters do not care. Many see the 3.5 per cent property-tax hike announced this week as some form of betrayal. Rightly or wrongly, they believe Katz led them to believe property taxes would never rise.

Again, Katz did no such thing. But he did commit an entirely different political sin: He told voters what they wanted to hear and utterly failed to engage them in a reasoned debate about fiscal policy. As the cliché dictates, he must now lie in the rhetorical bed he made in 2010.

To be fair, the Wasylycia-Leis’s promise to raise taxes was equally vapid, as her increase could have only maintained services, not improved them. Real improvements to services require more than inflationary revenue hikes. Katz is correct when he states Winnipeg’s revenue and infrastructure problems are much more immense.

But now that the tax-hike bogeyman is out of the way, our mayor can do what he wishes with fiscal policy. In what amounts to an excellent political opportunity, Sam Katz may use his final two years in office to choose whatever direction he likes, without any fear of being boxed in by previous commitments.

If he succeeds, he has a chance of being remembered as the three-term mayor who finally figured it all out by the end. If he fails, he can take solace in the fact Sheila Copps went on to enjoy a career outside of politics.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/freeze-frame-141343523.html

North End Winnipeg – McPhillips Ave Used Car Truck Dealer Manitoba
Waverley Auto Mall
Cancun Puerto Morelos Chichen Itza Tours Mexico
www.crossfireconsulting.net

Online tool helps renters see if buying is affordable

Posted on by
Reply

Many renters dream of taking the money they spend on rent and using it for mortgage payments.

But there’s a lot more to buying and owning a home than just paying the mortgage.

There are real estate and legal fees, home inspection and moving costs, property taxes, utilities and interest rates.

One of the best ways to determine if you can realistically afford to buy a home is to sit down and crunch the numbers.

Instead of using a hand-held calculator or a pencil and paper, you can check out the new online Rent or Buy calculator at www.ic.gc.ca/oca/rentorbuy.

It’s free and it gives you an instant snapshot of your potential as a home buyer.

Developed by Industry Canada, the calculator simply asks you to enter your current financial information (such as any savings you might have, the cost of your rent and utilities, the interest rate you might get on a mortgage) and the calculator does the rest for you.

It shows you the maximum house price you can afford, the down payment needed, your closing costs, and how much money you’ll need to cover all your monthly expenses, including mortgage payments, property taxes and utilities.

The web page also has links to other Government of Canada tips and resources on buying or renting a home and mortgages.

http://www.altonaecho.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3463768

Winnipeg Wedding Catering
Winnipeg Auto Dealers
Waverley Auto Mall
www.crossfireconsulting.net

Canada’s Housing Bubble Is Stretched to the Limit

Posted on by
Reply

You have to empathize with people in Canada who want to buy a house. In boom cities like Regina, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto house prices have inflated virtually non-stop for more than a decade.

Income growth though—what income growth?

Consequently, it is virtually impossible for the typical person to purchase a home without bankrupting himself in the process. For many families, even with two incomes, buying a house is stretching beyond the breaking point.

In Regina, house prices have almost tripled over the past 10 years. Little 900-square-foot houses on small lots, built in the 1930s, and located in crummy neighborhoods, list for $200,000 or more.

This is Regina—middle of the bald prairie, nothing to stop the wind, more land than you could ever know what to do with, minus-40 degrees Celsius with only eight hours of daylight in the middle of winter—Regina!

If you want to avoid a coronary, don’t even think about buying a house in Vancouver.

In 1999, before the massive run-up in house prices, the price of a home was 3.2 times the average person’s salary. It averaged that for decades. By 2010, the average house in Canada cost 5.9 times the average yearly salary, according to the Globe and Mail.

Do the math: If you earned a salary of $50,000 per year, and bought an average house, it would cost almost $300,000. In Canada, this salary puts you in the 20 percent tax bracket. That means you really only bring home $40,000 per year, or $3,300 per month.

Now look at your mortgage costs. A 4.5 percent, fixed-rate, 30-year mortgage has a monthly payment of $1,520 per month. Almost half your total income goes to paying just the mortgage. That’s why the mortgage industry started providing zero-down 40-year loans, before the federal government banned them for being too risky for consumers.

If you are like many people, and don’t have a 20 percent down payment, you will need to buy mortgage insurance. Estimate another $250 per month if you have close to 20 percent. If you only put down 5 percent, you will need to cough up closer to $700 per month.

Then there are property taxes: Add at least another $500 per month. Property insurance: Another 250 per month.

You haven’t even begun to consider upkeep costs, or home owner’s association fees, and you are already paying $2,520 per month. If you only put 5 percent down, you would be paying $2,970 per month. That would leave you a miniscule $330 per month, all of which would probably be needed to pay utilities.

Talk about being a slave to your house. The average Canadian is forced to spend almost 100 percent of their income just on “ownership” costs! How do people feed themselves?

Of course that is why single-income families rarely buy houses in Canada anymore. To buy a house, both spouses need to work. One full salary goes toward paying for the house. The other salary goes toward feeding the family, paying for vehicles, paying other debt, and life.

But how dangerous is that? In the past, if the family breadwinner lost his job, the wife could temporarily get a job to keep the house from being repossessed. Today, if just one person loses their job, the family loses the house.

And Canadians rarely seem to consider the fact that their biggest investment might (read: will probably) go down in value.

Falling house prices is an idea that many Canadians laugh at. Americans laughed too before America’s bubble burst. Now, many Americans are locked into paying mortgages on houses that are becoming worth less and less each year.

Does this sound like the basis for a healthy economy? Indentured servitude for three decades just to see every dollar, dime and penny earned go toward paying for a depreciating asset! If you buy a house today, or if you bought a house over the past five to ten years, that is what you are risking.

And oh, if Canadians do default on their mortgages, banks can not only take the house, but have full recourse to go after all their other assets and income.

Yet Canadians seem more than willing to take the risk. Why? The same reason Americans did. When house prices are going up, it makes everyone rich! A 5 percent yearly gain on $300,000 is a cool $15,000—money that can be tapped through equity lines of credit.

And piling into real estate Canadians are. Offering interest rates yielding only fractions of a percent, the Bank of Canada is practically driving people into real estate.

In Vancouver, so many people are buying houses, second houses and investment houses, that the ratio of home prices to incomes is the highest in the English-speaking world, according to consultancy firm Demographia. The survey labeled it the second-least affordable city in the world! An average house there costs over 10.6 times the average pre-tax income. For further bubble evidence, check out this $1.2 million dump.

In Toronto, the real-estate bubble is so out of hand that the city has 173 skyscrapers under construction. New York, which boasts a population almost four times larger, is only building 96.

Since America’s housing bubble popped in 2007, Canada’s house prices have risen an astounding 22 percent. That has to be the definition of insanity—piling into the very investment that made your neighbor and most important economic partner virtually collapse.

But perhaps the biggest sign of a Canadian housing bubble is debt! Rising debt is the gas that fuels all bubbles. The average debt burden of Canadian families stands at a remarkable 153 percent of disposable income—and growing. It was only 150 percent three months ago. Canadians are now one of the most indebted people in the developed world, and just about as indebted as Americans before their bubble burst.

Based on this measure, the Economist figures the Canadian market is overvalued by over 70 percent. Even U.S. bubble epicenter Los Vegas has only seen house prices fall by 60 percent.

Last month, Merrill Lynch called Canada’s housing market overvalued, oversupplied and driven by speculation.

And in a report released last week, cibc argued that the people least likely to be able to afford new mortgages are the ones taking on new debt. One third of debtors hold about 75 percent of all personal debt. And who is this one third? According to cibc, it is boomers nearing retirement and those already burdened by high debt.

Canada’s bubble is getting close to bursting, and when it does, expect a massive economic implosion. Unemployment will soar, banks will fail or ask for bailouts, and the dollar will plunge in value. Millions of Canadians will be left paying a fixed mortgage on a rapidly depreciating asset that will destroy their financial lives.

Five years following the popping of America’s housing bubble, Canadians may be about to wish they had learned a lesson. Get your ear plugs ready.

http://www.thetrumpet.com/9087.7872.0.0/economy/canadas-housing-bubble-is-stretched-to-the-limit

Winnipeg Wedding Catering
Winnipeg Auto Dealers
Waverley Auto Mall
www.crossfireconsulting.net

Cops could cut overtime, mayor says

Posted on by
Reply

Winnipeg’s mayor says all budgets are up for review – including the police – as the city looks to trim costs in advance of a budget that could see council impose the first property tax increase in more than a decade.

But the union representing front-line officers is warning public safety could be put at risk if cops have to make cuts.

Mayor Sam Katz suggested Monday that the Winnipeg Police Service could find places to reduce spending – especially its overtime budget. He noted that the dozens more officers have been hired and a helicopter put into service, so there should be room for police to avoid working extra hours.

“It’s a matter of taking a look and seeing what you can accomplish in the end, (the police service) will make the call but you always have to monitor and remind,” Katz told Global News.

The head of the Winnipeg Police Association quickly shot down the idea of eliminating overtime as unsafe.

“(Overtime) is the lifeblood that allows us to respond even in terms of response times that we provide now and without (overtime) public safety is in serious jeopardy,” WPA president Mike Sutherland told Global News.

The union also questioned the timing of the mayor’s musings on budget cuts – just as the city and police union concluded arbitration hearings aimed at settling a contract dispute over pay increases for more than 1500 police officers and other employees.

http://www.globalwinnipeg.com/cops+could+cut+overtime+mayor+says/6442575091/story.html

Winnipeg Wedding Catering
Winnipeg Auto Dealers
Waverley Auto Mall
www.crossfireconsulting.net

Selinger, Allan share the pain among property owners facing school-tax hikes

Posted on by
Reply

Premier Greg Selinger and Education Minister Nancy Allan face school-tax hikes on their personal property tax bills this year after Louis Riel School Division received zero increase in provincial operating grants.

Every penny of increased costs will come from division residents, Louis Riel school board chairman Gary Gervais said Thursday.

Those residents include Selinger and Allan.

“We’re at zero — what we got last year, we get this year. We’re going to be getting it all from the ratepayers this year,” said Gervais, who was uncertain just how big a tax increase the division would seek.

“I don’t think we’re going to be in double digits (tax increase) — I hope not,” Gervais said.

Allan announced a 2.2 per cent increase in operating grants totalling $25.5 million on Monday, but she also discontinued the tax incentive grants, a pot of money the province had used for the past four years to entice school trustees to freeze their taxes.

River East Transcona secretary-treasurer Vince Mariani said his division is in the same boat as Louis Riel, receiving not a cent more than the $25.5 million it got last year.

“I would like to see where it’s going. It’s not coming to us,” Mariani said.

Winnipeg S.D. is also at a zero increase in funding and projecting an 8.5 per cent increase in taxes, while Pembina Trails and St. James-Assiniboia have not yet made their draft budgets public.

Seven Oaks S.D. is looking at a seven per cent increase in taxes, despite a 5.6 per cent increase in grants.

At least, Mariani said, the province has guaranteed no division would receive less this year than it did last year under the provincial funding formula.

“It is rather convoluted. It is flawed to the extent that a number of school divisions, whether they’re in growth or reduction (in enrolment), they’re getting zero,” Mariani said.

Mariani said River East Transcona hopes to keep tax increases to 2.9 per cent by dipping into dwindling reserve funds, and to having steadily reduced the number of teachers on the payroll the past four years as enrolment declined.

Gervais said LRSD’s reserve funds are down to 1.5 per cent and aren’t likely to help cut taxes. Allan has told divisions to cap reserves at four per cent.

“They’re saying, ‘Here you go, make it work,’ ” Gervais said.

LRSD is plagued by largely empty schools in older neighbourhoods and schools bulging with kids in the suburbs, yet the province persists with its moratorium on closing schools, denying trustees a chance to save money, Gervais said.

“(At) Dr. D.W. Penner School, we’re down to 100 students” this coming September, he said.

Seine River S.D. superintendent Mike Borgfiord said his urban-rural division received a 2.7 per cent increase in provincial funding, but without a tax increase still faces significant cuts.

“Where we got helped out a lot was our equalization went up,” Borgford said. “It’s still not enough.”

What will alleviate some of Seine River’s tax pressure is new housing that has added about four per cent assessment growth — new taxpayers sharing the tax burden for the first time.

Allan also announced an extra $4 million to begin phasing in the capping of kindergarten to Grade 3 classes at 20 students, but Mariani said no division has any of that money yet. “That’s money the government set aside,” he said.

Manitoba School Boards Association executive director Carolyn Duhamel said she’s hearing from divisions across Manitoba who have not received any funding increase.

Duhamel said what’s been overlooked this week is that last year Allan guaranteed no division would receive less than a 2.2 per cent increase in funding.

That guarantee of some funding increase “has been there a number of years, and it’s not there this year,” Duhamel said.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/selinger-allan-share-the-pain-138629419.html

Cancun Cheap Dental Implants
Midtown Ford Winnipeg Facebook
Winnipeg Wedding Catering
Winnipeg Auto Dealers
www.crossfireconsulting.net

School board warns of cuts, tax hikes

Posted on by
Reply

The province’s largest school board says it is “disappointed” with the province’s plans for public school funding for this year, warning that the shortfall may lead to cuts in programs or a hike in property taxes.

The NDP government announced Monday it will increase public school funding 2.2%, or about $25.5 million province-wide this year. It’s a smaller funding increase than last year, with the province’s education minister citing “tough” economic times.

The province on Monday also said it would cancel the Tax Incentive Grant program, which dangled extra funding at school boards to encourage them not to raise property taxes.

In a news release Tuesday, the Winnipeg School Division says the funding plans don’t come close to what it needs.

“We are facing a 2.5 per cent increase in enrolment in a year when provincial funding is inadequate to meet existing needs,” said Kristine Barr, chair of the Division’s Finance Committee. “There are only two ways to deal with this equation – cut costs or increase school property taxes. Clearly, we have some very tough decisions to make.”

The Winnipeg School Division estimates “the gap between expenses and funding for 2012-13 could add $80 to the tax bill for a typical property in the Division if further cost savings can’t be found.”

Winnipeg School Division says it will seek input on its budget at a consultation meeting on February 27, 2012.

http://www.globalwinnipeg.com/school+board+warns+of+cuts+tax+hikes/6442571062/story.html

Cancun Puerto Morelos Chichen Itza Tours Mexico
Guest Blogging Blogs
Puerto Morelos Rental Apartments
www.crossfireconsulting.net

Beware massive property tax hike coming

Posted on by
1

By Tom Brodbeck, Winnipeg Sun

Hang on to your wallets, Winnipeg property owners. I get the sneaking feeling we may be in for a double dose of property-tax hikes this year.

City councillors have been hinting for months that they’re poised to end the city’s so-called property tax freeze. And we now find out the Selinger government is ending its tax-incentive grants to school boards, which means school divisions will almost certainly jack up their property taxes this year.

We could be in for one massive tax hike.

And that would be on top of the property tax increase Mayor Sam Katz and city council hit us with last year. They increased the frontage levy portion of our tax bill by 47% in 2011.

Also, city hall is charging us a new garbage tax this year — $50 a year spread out over four sewer and water bills.

They say they need the money to hire more waste management bureaucrats and to roll out the new garbage collection program.

And don’t expect the province to provide us with any property tax relief this year, either. I suspect the days of upping our property-tax credits are over. The Selinger government has an $841-million deficit to contend with — self-inflicted, by the way — and I doubt tax relief will be part of their budget talking points over the next couple of months.

Education Minister Nancy Allan essentially told reporters Monday the province could no longer afford the tax-incentive grant. The grant was given out to school divisions in the past if they held the line on property taxes. That’s now gone.

And while it’s heartening to hear Allan plead with school divisions not to jack up taxes this year, I fear her cautionary words will fall on deaf ears around the school board meeting rooms.

Time to get the chequebook out, folks.

Meanwhile, city councillors have been setting the stage for months to raise property taxes when they bring down their operating budget in the coming weeks.

They keep insisting they have nowhere left to cut (what have they cut?) and need more money to fix streets and bridges. They’re going to remind us that the property tax freeze couldn’t last forever and that it’s now time to charge us more money.

And they’ll conveniently ignore the fact that they’ve already been jacking up our taxes through the frontage levy and through a number of increases to our sewer and water bills — some of which goes back to general city coffers.

School trustees will simply blame the province when they increase their property taxes this year. They’ll tell us the 2.2% funding increase the province announced is nowhere near enough to maintain existing services. And instead of cutting their bloated bureaucracies, they will simply increase our mill rates.

It now costs taxpayers $11,160 per student to run public schools and their bureaucracies, according to the province’s FRAME report.

That’s up a staggering 25% over the past five years when the cost was $8,898 per student in 2006. At some point, school divisions are going to have to explain to taxpayers why their costs are going up 4.5% a year on average.

For taxpayers, another round of property tax hikes is going to be a tough pill to swallow. We already pay the highest income taxes in Canada west of Quebec for middle and upper-income earners.

But apparently our elected officials don’t take that into account. They don’t seem to care that we already pay among the highest overall taxes in this city and province to the various levels of government.

They just want more. And it looks like their getting ready to take it.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/01/31/beware-massive-property-tax-hike-coming

Winnipeg Wedding Catering
Winnipeg Auto Dealers
Waverley Auto Mall
www.crossfireconsulting.net