Tag Archives: Property Tax Hike

Block property tax hike

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When Mayor Sam Katz renews his commitment to a property tax freeze at the State of the City address Tuesday, the usual critics will whine that city hall can no longer afford a freeze because it needs the money to fix our crumbling bridges and roads.

They’ll argue a property tax freeze would force the city to budget with virtually the same revenue it did last year, causing it to fall further behind on its infrastructure deficit.

Costs are rising and the city’s needs are growing, the critics will say. Therefore, we need to raise property tax rates to pay for those growing expenses.

It sounds like a reasonable position. How can city councillors freeze taxes every year and expect city hall to keep up with growing expenses and a backlog of infrastructure projects?

The answer is fairly simple. Despite the tax “freeze,” city hall revenues have been soaring in recent years, both from higher tax revenues and user fees and from skyrocketing government transfers.

The city’s total consolidated revenues — which include everything from taxes and sewer and water rates to bus fare and licence fees — have grown a staggering 32% from 2004 to 2008, according to the city’s 2008 annual report.

City coffers took in $969 million in 2004. That jumped to $1.27 billion by 2008.

Taxation revenue alone — which includes all city taxes such as property, business and consumption taxes — increased 6% during that period, despite the tax freeze and a business tax cut.

User charges, including revenues from ballooning sewer and water rates — money raised in part to pay for expensive sewer and water upgrades — jumped 27% to $328 million.

Government transfers from both the province and the federal government more than doubled to $213 million in 2008 from $94 million in 2004.

And interest income and “other” revenues soared to $123 million from $54 million four years earlier.

Not all of that money goes into the city’s general revenue fund. Some of it stays with utilities, such as water and waste, and some goes into reserves. But it’s all city revenue and it all comes from one pocket: the taxpayers.

The city may have frozen your property taxes, but they’ve jacked up your sewer and water rates, increased your frontage levy and charged you higher taxes on your hydro bill because of increased electricity rates.

If you’ve renovated your property under a building permit, your taxes have gone up. Licence fees have increased across the board.

And even the amount the city charges you at Brady Landfill for residential use has doubled.

Add in the fact that the number of taxable properties in Winnipeg has jumped to 211,048 in 2008 from 205,366 in 2004 and you can see how city hall is raking it in.

So this nonsense about how a “freeze” would starve the city of much-needed cash is based entirely on misinformation and political spin.

The city doesn’t need more our money. If anything, they need to control their spending.

City hall’s salary and benefit costs jumped 14% to $564 million in 2008 compared with $496 million in 2004, according to the city’s annual report.

Supporters of a tax hike are demanding a “modest” 1% to 2% increase this year, which would raise $4 million to $8 million.

I have a better idea. Take the $8 million from salaries and benefits budget and leave taxpayers alone.

They pay enough already.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/columnists/tom_brodbeck/2010/01/25/12610331.html

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Majority of Winnipegers favor Tax Increase

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A survey conducted by the Leger Marketing convey that most number of Winnipeg voters are in favor of raising property taxes to ensure that service levels are maintained rather than risking quality services just to cope with the city’s tax freeze.

property tax thumb Majority of Winnipegers favor Tax IncreaseSurvey revealed, out of 800 respondents, 56 per cent are agreeing to raise property tax; 38 per cent chose to keep the city tax freeze; and the rest are undecided about the issue.

Surprisingly, this poll result has become an election issue, whereby it suggests that majority of voters are in line with mayoral candidate Judy Wasylycia-Leis’ property tax hike proposal. On one hand, only the minority favors Mayor Sam Katz solution. Katz who has been major critic of Wasylcia-Leis’ proposal said, that he’s plan is similar to picking “low-hanging fruit” and has made property tax hike as his last option.

Winnipeg city has one of the cheapest municipal property tax in Canada. The city has frozen it’s property tax value for the past 13 years, beginning from Susan Thompson’s administration until Glenn Murray and Katz governance.

According to Wasylycia-Lei, raising taxes two per cent a year for four years would accumulate an additional $90 million revenue for the city. However, Katz has emphasized that the increase would badly affect those seniors and people with fixed incomes. Ironically, he has refused to rule out tax hike of his own in 2011.

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Majority of Winnipeg voters favor property tax hike, poll revealed

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Ledger Marketing survey findings, most Winnipegers are more favor of a property tax hike than a property tax freeze— this is to keep service levels in control and not the opposite.

Survey had shown that 56 per cent of Winnipeg adult opted for a raise in property tax, while 38 per cent of the total subjects chose to keep the tax freeze, and 6 per cent has no say about the issue, this is out of 800 randomly picked adults from the recent month.

Result suggests that a larger number of Winnipeg voters are in line with mayoral challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis’ proposal to raise property taxes. The rest are with Mayor Sam Katz, who disapprove Wasylycia-Lei’s plan as picking “low-hanging-fruit” and has promised to treat property-tax increases as the last option.

Property tax has been frozen for 13 years now. This was initiated under Susan Thompson’s administration and continued through Glen Murray’and Katz’s governance.

If the 2 per cent hike would be implemented this would generate an additional $90 revenue. The move would also see the average annual tax burden for a Winnipeg property wind up being $200 higher in 2014 than it is today, according to city assessment and taxation figures.

On one side, the proposed tax increase would affect seniors and people with fixed income, said Mayor Katz.

Wasylycia-Leis has repeatedly challenged Katz to present a revenue plan of his own.

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Big teachers’ raise may trigger property tax hike

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THE largest teachers’ wage increase in at least two decades in the Winnipeg School Division could help drive school boards together on a united bargaining front next year.

And the contract might produce a property tax increase in the division.
On Tuesday, the morning after giving teachers an overall 3.8 per cent raise, the Winnipeg School Division is talking up the need for province wide bargaining.

“It’s important to work collaboratively, with other divisions” to ensure consistency with what teachers get paid, WSD finance chairwoman Kristine Barr said Tuesday.

“The reality is, teachers work with the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, trustees work with the Manitoba School Boards Association,” said Barr.

A majority of school boards has opposed province wide bargaining, while teachers’ wages have steadily increased to annual packages of three per cent plus cash in almost every division.

In the past, “Winnipeg School Division has seen provincial bargaining as a positive change,” said Barr. “It’s certainly something to explore.” Only one division has settled for 2010-11. Louis Riel teachers received 4.82 per cent this year, and next year get two phased-in increases of 1.5 per cent, compounding to 3.03 per cent.

Barr said divisions are looking at one-year settlements so they can strategize a uniform approach to bargaining.

WSD board chairwoman Jackie Sneesby said the 2009-10 deal approved Monday night is an overall 3.8 per cent increase.

“It’s three per cent, plus adjustments to scale,” which see teachers receive additional cash ranging from zero to $732, Barr said. “There is a significant portion of our teachers who would receive the maximum.”
Had the two sides not approved the new contract, it would likely have gone to binding arbitration, where teachers could have been awarded an even higher raise. “That’s a definite possibility,” said Barr.

The settlement is the largest for the division’s teachers in at least two decades. The Winnipeg Teachers Association had received a straight three per cent increase for the previous five years, and lesser amounts prior to that.

Barr said the agreement puts WSD teachers in the middle of the pack for city teachers.

Winnipeg teachers with 10 years experience, an undergraduate degree and an education degree are earning around $77,000 to $79,000. Rookie teachers with both degrees earn about $50,000 to $51,000 in city divisions this year. Precise figures based on recent contract settlements are not available yet.

Barr said differences in maximum salaries among divisions are miniscule compared to differences in benefits and working conditions.

She hinted that the settlement could mean an increase in property taxes, though cautioning that provincial operating grants won’t be announced until late this month.

“We’ve got a history in Winnipeg School Division of maintaining services and programs,” Barr said. “If it means an incremental tax increase, that’s what the division has done in the past.”

“What we settled for is three plus cash,” said WTA president Dave Najduch.
The cash, to be paid out in two phases, ranges from zero to $732 per teacher.

There is no simple way to characterize who gets cash, or how much cash, he said.

“It’s not a signing bonus,” said Najduch, who emphasized the cash will be built into the base of the contract when talks begin for a 2010-11 deal.

“It’s in line with what everyone else is getting,” said Najduch. Teachers are still trying to catch up with the raises they didn’t get under the Filmon Conservatives, he said: “There was a time in the ’90s when our increases were zero.”

The base raise for teachers became three per cent early in the decade. In recent years, some divisions added various additional cash, or built in catch-up with neighbouring divisions. In the 2009-10 school year, almost every division’s contract is three per cent plus some form of cash.

The highest previous cash addition was $550, paid this year to all teachers in Dauphin-based Mountain View S.D. It is phased in over two payments.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/big-teachers-raise-may-trigger-property-tax-hike-81304117.html

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Tax cap in jeopardy

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Concern over diluting key municipal services may trump fiscal restraint, warn city politicians as they begin to crunch budget numbers today.

Despite a 5% cap imposed on next year’s property tax hike, Coun. Don Iveson said council will still have to perform a budget balancing act to ensure city services aren’t neglected while trying to keep the numbers low.

And that may mean tinkering with the self-imposed tax ceiling.

“I think we may wind up higher than 5%,” Iveson said.

“It was a good place to start, but we know there would have to be cutbacks in police and other areas that council won’t be prepared to cut so there may be a few careful additions.”

Administration has already looked at trimming hours and maintenance at city-owned facilities as well as jacking user fees in hopes of reducing the hit on homeowners.

City cops have warned they may have to put off hiring more officers while the Edmonton Public Library has suggested it may have to scale back branch hours or even close a branch to meet the tight budget restrictions.

Council will mull a leaner budget than previous years that calls for a 3%, or $25 million, increase in operating expenses while adding a 2% levy to boost the city’s neighbourhood renewal program by an additional $16.7 million.

Should council stay at the 5% cap, the typical household would see its property taxes increase by $70 next year, not including utilities, to pay for the proposed $1.4 billion budget.

Coun. Ron Hayter said despite high demands for services, council has to be cautious with the public purse in a faltering economy.

“The 5% has to be the goal — whether we achieve that is another thing,” he said, noting there’s more sensitivity among his council colleagues with a civic election looming next fall.

“And if we can’t do that, we’ll have to face the music in the upcoming election.”

Hayter said there are some areas, such as transportation and social services, that are already cut to the bone and would suffer with more cuts. But he wouldn’t tip his hand as to what departments he believes could be slashed prior to budget talks.

Scott Hennig, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, gave failing marks to the city’s efforts at budgetary thrift, noting even if council stays within the 5% cap, it will still be more than 10 times higher than Edmonton’s inflation rate, which sagged to under half a per cent in 2009.

“The cost of living has stayed basically frozen and that means wages have likely followed suit. But the city government seems to be taking significantly more,” Hennig said, refusing to accept the argument that some services can’t face more cuts.

“When they say their hands are tied, it’s because they’ve tied their own hands.”

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/edmonton/2009/11/10/11693411-sun.html

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Sarnia property taxes up 1.8% in 2010

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Property taxes in Sarnia, Ont., will go up 1.8 per cent in 2010, according to the new budget set by city councillors at a meeting Tuesday night.

The $132-million budget also includes a one-time one per cent levy to complete capital projects worth $20.4 million.

Overall, “it’s a restraint budget” that cuts services “in very subtle ways,” said Coun. Mike Kelch.

“I don’t think it’s really going to [have an] impact,” Kelch said. “I don’t think people will say ‘Oh, I really notice that.’”

The property tax increase will translate to $15 for a home assessed at $100,000, the budget said.

That’s “a very modest tax increase,” Mayor Mike Bradley said, adding it will help pay for “a massive infrastructure investment in the community” in 2008 and 2009.

“So that in turn creates jobs, renews the community and gives us a real strong way to exit the recession,” Bradley said.

The city released its 228-page draft budget on Oct. 26. It proposed a property tax hike of 2.75 per cent, which was whittled down to 1.8 per cent during a series of discussions that ended Tuesday night.

Sarnia’s transit department will see its own increase, as the cost of a bus ride jumps to $2.25 from $2.00.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2009/12/02/sarnia-2010-property-tax-091202.html#ixzz0ig5iN9Pr

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Property taxes may go up 3 percent to cover HCMC shortfall

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County commissioners are looking at a property tax hike to make up for the loss of General Medical Assistance from the state. Many of them had harsh words for Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

For 2010, a year in which county tax assistance will deliver two new suburban libraries and the Twins’ new open-air ballpark, Hennepin County is considering a reduced budget to hold down spending in the face of the weak economy.

County Administrator Richard Johnson presented a $1.6 billion budget Tuesday to the county board for next year, down about 6 percent from this year’s $1.71 billion.

But even after cutting 163 jobs and reducing capital improvements, the county still needs to raise property taxes by 3 percent solely to pay increased costs at Hennepin County Medical Center, Johnson said.

Those higher costs were caused by the state’s cancellation of General Medical Assistance for poor adults, he said.

Hearing that, county commissioners began their budget deliberations by blasting Gov. Tim Pawlenty again for shifting the state’s budget problems to them. The county estimates that 40 percent of the state’s poor adults who were covered by General Medical Assistance live in Hennepin County.

The tax increase is required “just because the governor cut the legs out” from under thousands of low-income adults who depended on General Medical Assistance, Commissioner Gail Dorfman said.

Commissioner Peter McLaughlin said that “people need to understand that the county doesn’t operate in a vacuum.”

In the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s, the county’s tax revenues have gone down and the demand for services from people who have lost jobs has gone up, McLaughlin said.

While the county is doing its part by cutting staff and putting off improvements, McLaughlin said, state government is giving counties and cities less money.

Rather than raising state taxes, Pawlenty is “balancing the state budget on the backs of property taxpayers in counties and cities,” McLaughlin said.

http://www.startribune.com/local/south/62766622.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUI

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