Winkler city council last week approved a $26.8 million financial plan with a 3.9 per cent increase in taxes for the year ahead.
The increase comes as no surprise, as it’s part of the city’s multi-year budget that saw it commit to a 4.20 per cent increase in 2025, 3.9 per cent this year, and four per cent in 2027, all tied to inflation and the city’s annual commitment to significantly reduce its debenture terms while also putting money way for future needs.
“We’re in year two of a three-year plan where we told the community that we’re going to do CPI [Consumer Price Index, which rose 2.1 per cent this year] plus one per cent for our debenture plan and one per cent for our asset management plan,” noted Mayor Henry Siemens.
“To walk that out, what it really means is we’re going to continue to invest in bringing our debenture terms down. We’re now at a point that we’re not going to take on any debt with a longer term than 10 years. That alone on the current debt that we have saves us about $7.8 million in interest.”
Winkler has three big capital projects currently on the books, totalling $24.27M in debt. It’s slated to pay off the water treatment plant expansion ($4 million) by 2030, the new wastewater treatment facility ($8.44M) by 2034, and the Meridian Exhibition Centre ($13.29M) by 2038. The City will be putting $2.26M towards the principal of that debt this year.
The one per cent of the tax increase going to the asset management plan ensures there’s a steady fund of money put away to allow for necessary repairs and replacement of city assets (roads, buildings, the water and sewer systems, equipment, and parks) without hefty hikes to pay for them.
“We will continue to lobby very aggressively for Manitoba and Canada to be involved in where they need to be involved,” Siemens said,” but we don’t want to be stuck in a place where we’re not able to do something because some of the other orders of government aren’t at the table at the right time.
“We want to make sure that we can provide for Winkler what Winkler needs when Winkler needs it.”
The City will receive $18.4M in municipal taxes and another $8.1 from other revenue to cover the $26.8M financial plan.
On the expenses side, they’ll spend about $5.1M on police, $4.7M on community services, $3.7 on fiscal services, $3.6 on transportation, $3.3M on corporate services, $2.1M transferred to reserves, $1.1M on waste disposal, $991,225 on the fire department, $925,150 on economic development, and $776,600 on planning and engineering.
The mill rate increases from 13.315 in 2025 to 13.830. What it means for the average taxpayer with a home valued at $330,000 is an increase of about $76 on their tax bill (3.58 per cent). For a commercial property valued at $1 million, their tax bill will increase by about $334 (3.87 per cent).
The financial plan also lays out Winkler’s utilities budget for the year ahead. They’ll be spending $5 million on things like sewer relining, well replacements, a water main loop, a water pipe and generator at the George Ave. reservoir, and water tank repairs—key infrastructure upkeep that, when done year by year, ensures everything remains in good shape longer, Siemens noted.
“That way we never get to a place that we have to do one massive amount [of repairs],” he said.
There is also money earmarked for the City to purchase land for future industrial park expansion (nearly $5M), a new specialized fire truck (about $891,000), and transportation/drainage improvements ($2M).
It’s a lean budget by design, Siemens said.
“We had to make some very difficult decisions in terms of what we wanted to do and what we thought would make Winkler a better community versus what we can afford right now,” he said. “We’ve just come out of the three biggest capital projects in Winkler’s history, all done simultaneously. So we’re very careful now to make sure that what we’re doing is the meat and potatoes—we don’t have the opportunity for dessert in our budget right now. We have to tackle what needs to happen and we have to look after what we have.”
While no one likes seeing their tax bill increase, Siemens hopes Winklerites will appreciate council’s measured approach.
“We are keenly aware of the fact that there is pain involved with an increase and we try to mitigate it as much as possible to not jeopardize our future, and that’s where we really are: we’re planning to make life as affordable as possible today while protecting the future of Winkler as well.”
Speed limit review requested
In other council matters, the City of Winkler is renewing its request that Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure take a closer look at the speed limit and road usage of Hwy. 14 between 15th St. and Road 23W (Dicken’s Road) west of town.
The request was originally made in late 2023, but got stalled at the provincial level somewhere between now and then, city manager Jody Penner explained. MIT’s new director has asked Winkler council to make a formal application once again so the process can move onto next steps.
Council hopes the results of the study it will give the province food for thought as to whether the speed limit on that stretch of road—currently 100 km/hr and 80 km/hr towards the intersection—needs to be lowered given the increased vehicle and pedestrian foot traffic in the area.
