Tag Archives: City Of Winnipeg

Winnipeg considers extending tax incentive for home repairs, renovations

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The City of Winnipeg announced its staff is proposing a continuation of a tax incentive for home renovations in order to encourage residents to upgrade their electrical and plumbing systems.

The Home Renovation Tax Assistance Program (HRTA), which applies to residences that are at least 25 years old with an assessed value of $192,000 or less, has been in place since 2006.

In a report that will go before the city’s Executive Policy Committee on Wednesday, city staff are recommending the amount of the credit be increased by $500 to $750, to a total maximum credit of $2,250.

“Not only does this program support homeowners in undertaking renovations to their homes, it also provides an incentive to update and upgrade essential electrical and plumbing systems, bringing them into compliance with current building codes,” said Deepak Joshi, director of the City of Winnipeg’s planning, property and development department.

http://www.dcnonl.com/article/id43984

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City auditor says report misinterpreted

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The City of Winnipeg’s auditor says a report his department authored regarding special taxes for new homeowners was misinterpreted.

Brian Whiteside said the report on local improvements was meant to identify a potential risk, but not to directly imply that some homeowners may have been double-charged by property developers.

“There was language in the audit report used to identify a potential risk in existing city processes,” he said in a statement on behalf of the audit department.

“However, that wording appears to have been interpreted in a way not consistent with its intended meaning. We did not mean to imply that we had investigated and concluded whether developers had in fact double-charged property owners for land drainage in these cases,” Whiteside said.

The auditor’s report stated concern that Winnipeggers who bought new homes may have been charged twice for basic services: once when they bought their lot and again when they were charged a special tax on their tax bills.

Documentation from a development company and property owners, however, proved otherwise.

The report drew criticism from Mayor Sam Katz who called Whiteside’s findings “inaccurate” and also from B.C.-based North Grassie Properties which owns a chunk of Winnipeg land.

In a separate statement Thursday, Whiteside said the city has chosen to act on the report’s findings.

“City council has accepted the audit report and the Winnipeg Public Service has agreed to implement all nine recommendations contained in the Local Improvements Audit so I am confident that the audit will achieve the results expected,” Whiteside said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/03/24/man-audit-response-whiteside.html

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Property owners dinged twice

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The City of Winnipeg plans to launch an internal review after auditors discovered a local developer was able to collect

$250,000 by effectively double-charging property owners for land-drainage work.
In a damning report, city auditors uncovered a total of eight cases where developers used an obscure mechanism called an

“inside-development local improvement” to collect money from property owners without providing anything in return.
The auditor’s report, published by the city late Friday, looked into Winnipeg’s local improvement process, which allows

citizens or developers to initiate construction projects that otherwise wouldn’t be included in the city’s infrastructure

plans. Local improvements typically involve small projects, such as sidewalk paving or decorative street lamps.
Under a local improvement, the city or a contractor conducts the work up front and adds the cost to property tax bills. City

auditors examined 148 such improvements between 2005 and 2009, including 84 initiated by developers.
In eight of these cases, developers — none identified by name — received city approval to begin local improvements for

land-drainage work on parcels of land owned entirely by the developer. In these cases, the eventual buyers of the properties

had no idea they would begin paying additional property taxes and got nothing in return, the auditors contend.
“Under the arrangement in question, the sole benefit of the tax goes to the developer because all of the local improvement

taxes are remitted back to the developer,” audit manager Bryan Mansky writes.
“We believe it is quite reasonable to assume that the final property owner may pay for the cost of the infrastructure

elements twice: once in the lot price and then again through the local-improvement taxes imposed.”
He and his fellow auditors “were unable to ascertain the reason for this type of arrangement,” which does not appear to exist

in other Canadian cities.
Even in Winnipeg, “inside development local improvements” are rare. The city approved no such arrangements between 1975 and

2002, when a developer succeeded in imposing extra taxes to pay for land-drainage sewers at a downtown infill project, the

auditors write.
The same developer requested this clause be added to development agreements seven times between 2002 and 2006. That year, a

city property official finally challenged a request for a local improvement levy on land-drainage sewers for a new

subdivision.
Land drainage is considered basic infrastructure, not an improvement, the official argued. But the developer successfully

argued a precedent had been set.
The developer also said the arrangement would make the resulting properties more affordable for young families. Auditors

found this wasn’t the case, since the properties were eventually assessed at $340,000, well beyond the range of many

first-time homebuyers. There was also no evidence the tax was used to reduce the price of the lots.
In this one instance, the developer gained an additional $250,000 after each homebuyer was slapped with an additional $2,036

worth of property taxes. This cost should have been included in the lot price, the auditors suggest.
“Since the installation of the basic infrastructure elements was already specifically required by the development agreement,

there is no additional benefit provided to the new property owners,” the report states.
City auditor Brian Whiteside declined to name the developer. The only way purchasers of his properties would know they were

about to pay for basic infrastructure twice was if their lawyer phoned Winnipeg’s senior local improvement clerk, the

auditors write.
Council was also left in the dark. The auditors found eight cases where the “inside-development” clause was added to

development agreements without council approval.
City council property chairman Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) said the city will probe all of these cases and pledged to head

the review.
“If at some point council didn’t know about it, that’s a problem,” he said, but he also said individual city councillors

“sometimes do their own thing” with developments.
Browaty declined to name those councillors.
The property chairman also said he knows of Winnipeg subdivisions where all of the basic infrastructure has been put in as

local improvements. New standards must be created to improve transparency, he said.
“If at some point in time a purchaser is purchasing a property and there’s something they’re not being told openly and

honestly and the assessment hasn’t come through, that’s also a problem,” Browaty said. “We’re going to make things a little

more consistent across the board.”
The auditors’ report came before city council’s executive policy committee in July 2010, but Mayor Sam Katz’s inner circle

chose to lay it over until November. EPC approved the report on March 16. It comes before council as a whole on March 23.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/property-owners-dinged-twice-118349194.html

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Homeowners receiving property reassessments

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WINNIPEG — The City of Winnipeg has sent out its second batch of property reassessment letters to Winnipeg homeowners, notifying them about the 2012 property values city assessors are thinking about assigning to their homes.

Every two years, the city reassesses the value of residential and commercial properties. It used to do this once every four years, but increased the frequency to ensure assessed values are closer in line with market values.

What is your opinion of your city tax assessment?
The city conducted a preliminary reassessment of all residential properties as of April 1, 2010. On that date, residential properties in Winnipeg increased by an average of 12 to 15 per cent over the same date in 2008, city assessor Nelson Karpa said.

But not all properties increased at the same rate. The city began mailing out reassessment notices in November, when 70,000 Winnipeg homeowners received their preliminary notices.

Another 62,000 homes were notified today. The final 76,000 homeowners will be notified in February.

All homeowners will be given a chance to discuss their preliminary reassessments at meetings with city assessment staff, who have the authority to change the assessments on the spot. The next round of meetings is slated for Waverley Heights Community Club on Jan. 24-27. Walk-ins are welcome, but you may also call 311 to set up a 15-minute appointment.

The city plans to mail out final reassessment notices in June. The appeal process will begin after that, Karpa said.

But simply winding up with a higher property assessment does not mean you will pay more taxes in 2012. Generally speaking, you only pay more property taxes if your assessment exceeds the city-wide average, which also includes commercial property assessments.

The city has yet to conduct its commercial property reassessments for 2012.

The other factor influencing tax increases is city council, which could vote to increase property taxes this year and in 2012. But council has not made such a move since 1997.

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Katz leaves door open a crack to possibility of property-tax increase

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Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz said he still hopes to deliver another a property-tax freeze this year but continued to leave the door open a crack for the first hike since the late ’90s.

Speaking to reporters after an executive policy committee meeting, Katz repeated his 2010 election campaign pledge to make a property-tax increase a last resort when he and his colleagues develop the 2011 operating budget.

But the mayor also continued to describe a tax freeze as a goal, as opposed to a certainty.

The City of Winnipeg balanced its last two operating budgets without increasing property taxes through methods that included one-time transfers from other accounts, the elimination of middle-management positions and also by expecting to settle disputes with the province over ambulance funding and Manitoba Hydro taxes.

Pulling off the same trick this year will be difficult considering the rising cost of police, firefighter and other salaries. Every one of the city’s unions is either renegotiating its collective bargaining agreement or about to do so later this year.

The city’s operating budget will be tabled in February. The city’s capital budget, which covers infrastructure improvements and equipment purchases, will likely be tabled at the end of next week, Katz said.

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Urban Development Institute (UDI) say on Our Winnipeg Plan

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Forming a new development plan for the city of Winnipeg is a critical but inevitable task. While flexibility is a requirement in creating a long-term planning document, civic organizations like the Manitoba chapter of the Urban Development Institute (UDI) has to be assured that the city is on track for the right direction.

The UDI represents residential, commercial and industrial land developers, as well as professionals in engineering, legal survey, banking, planning and the architecture. As a key player in the city and province, it’s not surprising UDI made a presentation during the July 14 public hearing in the proposed Our Winnipeg plan.

The UDI said at the outset that they support any plan or initiative that:
• Recognizes the importance of market trends and conditions.
• Helps in making development more sustainable.
• Is flexible, but adds certainty to the development process.
• Is equitable.

The UDI’s primary concern falls with the city’s 20-year plan that only identifies a 13-year supply of residential land— which in their words is illogical and misleading. One more concern they’ve pointed out— for the city to achieve growth, Winnipeg have to rely heavily on a theoretical supply of residential land including centers, corridors, downtown, redevelopment land, infill and transit-oriented development (TOD).

The bottom line is that the UDI ensures that the city takes cautious approach in focusing growth on unproven markets. The group encourages the city to take proactive approach in planning its land assets not a reactive approach. The city should not depend on developers to under take large-scale regional transportation and servicing planning which is a municipal responsibility that does not seen to be addressed in this plan.

When looking at the development of “New Communities”, it is essential to consider that much of this suburban land has servicing constraints or other restrictions to development such as fragmented ownership. Discussion on how these lands will be serviced must be provided.

The UDI’s Jerry Klein of Genstar Development Company made a submission on Our Winnipeg on airport area development. “Genstar is a major stakeholder in the CentrePort lands and owns approximately 10 percent of the CentrePort Land. The intent and objectives as prescribed by CenterPort are to create an area that will be an inland port to promote intermodal facilities for handling goods through road, rail, air and marine; a Foreign Trade Zone to promote international trade and ultimately to create and develop viable industrial and commercial uses within designated area”. While these stated objectives are of great merit and beneficial to the growth of the city, these employment lands are being planned by CentrePort to be totally void of providing any complementary residential land uses.

Based from the said objectives, the CentrePort plan is basically contradicting to the philosophy and objectives being promoted and recommended by the city of Winnipeg Public Service in its Our Winnipeg document. According to section 011 City Building— “Create Complete Communities (which) need to support a range of options for living, working and playing. The daily necessities of life should be within reach…, (and) Provide Options for Growth. It will mean opportunities for more mixed-use areas, combining residential with retail, office and light industry.”

Two final points raised by UDI were that the city has to be more willing to look at the entire Capital Region in the context that current boundary issues should not be viewed as set in stone, and that more clarification from senior city planners would be helpful in determining what exactly they mean by Complete Communities.

Morever, UDI expects to be directly involved in developing what the city refers to as an “Implementation Toolbox” and a
“Complete Communities Checklist,” since they will be the ones creating these complete communities

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Prepare to get hosed

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Education Minister Nancy Allan has signalled that property owners should prepare to be hosed by education tax increases this year.

Ms. Allan, of course, did not frame the signal in those words — she said this week that the government will not order school divisions to freeze tax rates — but it cynically amounts to the same thing.

Ms. Allan has not been long on the job. But she has been on the job long enough to know that a perfect storm is gathering around education property taxes, one from which she should be seeking to shield taxpayers. But instead, she declares it’s every school division for itself.

The perfect storm starts with the divisions, which have been agreeing to pay more teachers much more money to teach ever fewer children. Contract settlements have reached several times the rate of inflation, the most recent at 4.8 per cent, which will quickly become the norm for all. Why the settlements are so high is anybody’s guess in the current economic climate. But given the current economic climate — the government, which promised a balanced budget last spring, is already $600 million in deficit — the province is not going to be paying those wage increases, which leaves the hapless property owner, as Ms Allan must know.

To complicate — or is that implicate? — the situation, tax assessments this year have climbed on average 67 per cent under the recent reassessment. That dramatic rise, however, should not lead to a dramatic increase in property taxes. If everyone follows the City of Winnipeg’s policy of cutting mill rates by a 67 per cent equivalent to offset the expanded assessment base, a tax grab by stealth will not occur. That’s a policy, however, that the school divisions have ignored in the past, claiming to have frozen tax (mill) rates knowing that they would raise more lucre anyway. In 2002, for example, Winnipeg division raked in an extra $8 million under the scheme.

And what are taxpayers getting for this? The NDP government in its wisdom refuses to require standardized tests so there is no way of knowing. All we know is that in the absence of data, the province has reduced the school year from 200 days to as low as 193 to placate Labour Day vacationers, and it has guaranteed teachers that 10 of those days will be set aside for professional development.

At the same time, there are 136 more teachers on the job, in part because the government did not want to appear soft on obesity and declared that the reduced time in class should be further reduced by sending students to the gym.

So why is Ms. Allan ignoring all this and refusing to freeze education taxes? Because, while she’s a new minister, she is playing the same cynical game as the old ministers.

The government needs money, now more than ever, to cover the fact that its spending problems are bigger than its revenue problems in these tough times. Giving the green light to school divisions relieves the government of its responsibility to properly fund public education, as opposed to public education tax rebates.

But even more cynical is that, while the government refuses to accept responsibility, it hectors and lectures school trustees for raising property taxes in the absence of sufficient provincial funding.

Which is what Ms. Allan announced — she will not freeze taxes, she instead will pass judgement when taxes are raised.

So prepare to get hosed. But don’t blame the boards. This is the minister’s doing.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/prepare-to-get-hosed-81060087.html

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Anything can be sponsored in Candian city – even manhole repair

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A Canadian city has hit upon a novel idea to raise revenue. Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba province, is selling the naming rights of its services to people or corporates to raise funds for development projects.

Anyone can sponsor a service or a parking lot or a school and get it named after him. If someone sponsors repairs of potholes, he too can have his name immortalized in a plaque.

The authorities say everything from the city’s library books to dog licences is up for sponsorship. The city has already put dozens of services up for sponsorship, and there have inquiries by those willing to immortalize themselves.

Mayor Sam Katz says cities need to find alternative sources of revenue and this is a good alternative to raising property taxes.

He says raising money through this novel route is just like naming a hospital wing after a donor.

“It is incumbent upon us to look at all credible ways to increase revenue to the city of Winnipeg,” the mayor has been quoted as saying by the Canadian Press.

He says sponsorships of services will also give an opportunity to those who want to pay back to their cities and communities.

The mayor has not specified the sponsorship rates.

“It goes from little to lots. It all depends what it is you want to do and whatever your financial circumstances can commit you to. That’s up to the public. We’re not stating specific amounts,” he has been quoted as saying.

With Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the annual gathering of the Indian diaspora, round the corner, why can’t the hosts Delhi or the Indian government sell this idea to rich NRIs? Rather than selling equity, sell only the naming rights, said an NRI who is going to attend the PBD in New Delhi Jan 7-9.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/anything-can-be-sponsored-in-candian-city-even-manhole-repair_100297719.html#ixzz0vslFYQbm

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Winnipeg offers naming rights for civic services

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Ever dreamed of having your name immortalized on a parking meter?

How about on a city bus ticket or a heart defibrillator in the back of an ambulance?

Winnipeg is banking on a few takers. The city that recently toyed with the idea of corporate-sponsored pothole repair is launching a new campaign aimed at raising money by selling off the naming rights of virtually any city service.

Everything from library books, to dog licences and memory sticks used in police cruisers is up for grabs. While the move has disgusted some who decry increased commercialism, Mayor Sam Katz says it’s no different than naming a hospital wing after a generous donor.

Open to average citizens

The city — like many municipalities across Canada — needs to find new sources of revenue and this is a good alternative to raising property taxes, Katz said.

“It’s incumbent upon us to look at all credible ways to increase revenue to the city of Winnipeg,” he said.

There are dozens of city services up for sponsorship and the city has already received inquiries. “There is no end to it.”

Sponsorship is open to average citizens, not just corporations, who want to give back to their community, said Katz.

But he refused to say what it could cost to be immortalized by sponsoring a city service.

“It goes from little to lots. It all depends what it is you want to do and whatever your financial circumstances can commit you to. That’s up to the public. We’re not stating specific amounts.”

There are going to be naysayers who find the program distasteful, Katz acknowledges. But it doesn’t make sense for the city to deny those who want to give a helping hand. “If someone wants to make a contribution to building a new community centre, are you going to tell me there is something wrong with that?”

Backward and unimaginative

Kalle Lasn can think of a dozen reasons why the sponsorship idea is a bad one. The founder and editor in chief of Adbusters magazine says it would be laughable if it weren’t so depressing. Selling off naming rights to city services is an example of backward and unimaginative thinking, he says.

Some cities, such as Sao Paulo in Brazil, are moving in the opposite direction by banning all advertising. Cities may be cash-strapped but plastering corporate ads on dog parks isn’t the answer, Lasn says. “It’s really depressing … They should learn how to be a little bit more innovative. There are ways of cutting back and ways of generating revenue that don’t include selling your soul to corporations.”

But some say Canadian municipalities are running out of options.

Stimulus not enough

Hans Cunningham, first vice-president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, says municipalities share an infrastructure deficit of about $123 billion.

Economic stimulus money from the federal government has helped recently, but it’s not enough to repair all the roads, bridges and water mains, he said. And the property tax base is already stretched, so cities have to look at user fees and other ways to raise money.

“It’s good that communities are creative and that’s very necessary in times like this. But it isn’t a permanent solution,” Cunningham says. “Sponsors come and go. When times are bad, it’s very difficult sometimes to get sponsors for things you need funds for.”

Marketing experts say such campaigns aren’t unusual in the United States.

Marvin Ryder, a marketing professor with McMaster University in Hamilton, said some American cities have sponsored pothole repair and other city services as a way of raising money. It makes sense for some businesses — such as real estate agents or dentists — to spend a few hundred dollars sponsoring a city service if it raises their profile and wins them customers, he said.

But the popularity of the idea rises and falls with the state of the economy.

“This is an idea that comes back every time we go through a recession as a way to substitute capital dollars with these donation dollars,” he said. “The idea goes away when we get into better times and there is more revenue to throw around.”

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/01/01/manitoba-winnipeg-naming-rights.html#ixzz0vskaNXWL

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This isn’t ‘selling out’ our city

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Right off the bat there’s over-reaction and unnecessary criticism about the City of Winnipeg’s corporate sponsorship or “naming rights” program, which allows companies, foundations and individuals to sponsor city property and programming all in the name of raising revenue for the city coffers.

This isn’t “selling out” the city as suggested by some online readers. It’s not about handing the municipality over to the big bad world of business and entrepreneurship. It’s about not raising property taxes. Plain and simple.

It’s about saving taxpayers money.

The city desperately needs to find new revenue if Mayor Sam Katz continues with his pledge to keep property taxes frozen. They have to come up with something innovative and right away. If council turns off the revenue taps from property taxes, they need to recoup it from somewhere. This looks like a marvellous way to accomplish that.

After dragging their heels for more than a year — actually the idea has been tossed around since 1997 — city officials released the finalized inventory of buildings, programs and other assets late last week, that would be available under the program. Some of the items and landmarks up for grabs are Kildonan, Whittier and Kilcona parks, community centres including Southdale, Bronx Park and Sinclair Park, some city libraries and golf courses, arenas and pools and spray pads.

There’s even been some suggestion a police helicopter could benefit from this program.

“It’s a real opportunity not only for companies and foundations but also private citizens. Maybe they’d like to memorialize someone,” said Coun. Grant Nordman.

Another good point was raised by Raj Manchanda, a professor of marketing at the University of Manitoba. “Additional exposure is always good for a brand, but more important is that it shows the company is participating in the community. It shows they believe in the city.”

We need businesses and foundations to invest in this city, just like Canad Inns does with Canad Inns Stadium and MTS does with the MTS Centre.

There’s just too many positives with this program to not, at least try it. But why has it been shelved so often in the past? Was there no interest? Did we not have a council committed to the idea?

Or was it — as the Sun’s Tom Brodbeck pointed out — just easier to just raise taxes?

This of course won’t solve all the problems in the city treasury but it’s just the start of things like more user fees and public-private sector partnerships we will see in the coming years.

The city needs extra revenue. Sponsors need to hop on board. The only drawback is, it’s cost us plenty waiting for council to get going on this.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/editorial/2009/11/26/11931061-sun.html

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