Winnipeg: Proving Einstein Right
City Council is working on the 2024-2027 budget, taking the same approach they have always taken. The result will be the same.
Einstein is often quoted as saying the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. When it comes to the Winnipeg budget, Winnipeg City Council has updated that rubric by doing the same thing and not even pretending to expect a different result.
Last week Mayor Gillingham and Councillor Browaty, Chair of the finance committee and head of the budgeting process, let Winnipeggers know there are “difficulties ahead” and that “this is a challenging budget year and so people should expect that difficult decisions are going to have to be made.”
From everything Browaty and Gillingham said we can expect a repeat of previous year’s budget processes, hearings, public input, and, ultimately, the same results. Jeff Browaty pretty much stated as much in response to requests for greater public input into the budget.
https://winnipeg-can.newsmemory.com/?publink=0e20bc466_134ae4c
The result is entirely too predictable. In February or March, when the public gets a chance to share their “input”, dozens of citizens will present to city council, asking for more trees, more transit, better sidewalks, more pool hours, more library hours. Y’know, the things that are about community. And council will once again say they don’t have the money for those things.
Let’s be honest, this is a mess of Council’s own making. Not just this iteration of city council, but city councils going back 25 years. This started back in 1999 when the first 0% property tax increase was instituted, and it has continued ever since. Oh, sure, the last few years we’ve had a property tax increase of 2.33%, but that hasn’t kept up with basic increases in expenses. Anything less than inflation plus growth (anywhere between 3 & 5%), such as the 2.33% or this year’s 3.5% increase , is effectively a cut.
Look around;sd the state of our sidewalks, snow clearing, roads, parks, waste collection, tree canopy, recreation facilities, libraries, transit, and so many other public services is what you get when you cut service year over year for 25 years. And City Council is promising more of the same for the next four years.
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!
Other Canadian cities this year are facing exactly the same financial pressures that Winnipeg is facing:
Inflation
Increasing labour costs
Increasing infrastructure costs
pandemic aftermath
The City of Winnipeg is pretty clear in their press release warning of the impending cuts.
Yet, other cities have released and approved their 2024 budgets with tax increases that respond to the increase in costs: Halifax at 9.7%, Victoria 8.37%, Calgary 7.8%, Edmonton at 6.6%. and Saskatoon at 6.04%.
So, what is different with all those other cities that they are passing budgets with significantly larger tax increases? (It’s not like Calgarians are “tax me more” people!)
A budget is essentially an implementation plan for a city’s vision. The starting point for City Council, and everyone in Winnipeg, should be the City Vision. OurWinnipeg states that the Winnipeg Vision is:
To be a vibrant and healthy city which places its highest priority on quality of life for all its citizens.
When residents get a chance to present at city council they ask for libraries, pools, and trees, they are asking for a vibrant and healthy city that prioritizes quality of life. When people are asking for more transit and better sidewalks, their priority is quality of life, for all citizens.
Budget discussions should be centered around achieving our collective goals and vision. A budget, through discussion and broad participation, sets out how to move forward, for all citizens. With meaningful engagement of city council and the public, we reach an understanding of priorities and, more importantly, trade-offs.
The end result of that vision-based process is a plan that can demonstrate civic progress towards making the community better, for all its citizens. And of course, that has a cost, which is what the tax increase is. Those other cities have put budgets in place with between 6 and 10% tax increases and have demonstrated to residents the value for their money. They show the return on the investment of their tax dollar in community benefits.
Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Halifax City Councils have felt confident approving budgets because they are able to appreciably show how they are addressing the challenges and moving forward with their community vision.
The output of a thoughtful engaged budget process is a plan, and for residents, a proposed tax increase. The tax increase is an output of the budget.
Winnipeg has decided that the property tax increase is an input to the budget.
Beyond simply being an input, it is the predominant input. It is the determining and guiding principle. And, as we have seen for decades, that guiding principle has allowed Winnipeg to get further and further behind.
The result is all too predictable. Council will present their “balanced” budget (BTW, a balanced budget is the required bare minimum), it will contain a 3.5% increase in property taxes. For the increased money residents will pay, the city will provide fewer and worse services.
The Winnipeg budget process guarantees we will not make progress towards a vibrant and healthy city whose highest priority is the quality of life for everyone.
Brian
Pour mes amis francophones, j'ai discuté le budget dans ma Chronique Municipale la semaine dernière à L'actuel à Radio-Canada:
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