Residents will see an average increase of about five per cent on their tax bills
Winkler city council last week unveiled a $29 million financial plan for 2024, which translates into an average tax bill increase of five per cent for residents.
“This is the culmination of pretty much a year’s worth of work, but particularly the last six months,” Mayor Henry Siemens said of the budget process, which includes multiple planning sessions as city staff and council work to hone in on the priorities for the year ahead. “Both staff and council take very, very seriously the awesome responsibility of going to our community and asking them for their money. This is significant.
“We know we need to provide what we need today and we have to make plans for what we’re going to need tomorrow in the community that we want to build.”
City staff have drafted a detailed asset management plan for the community, itemizing every single asset Winkler has—big or small—and laying out a timeline for its eventual replacement.
“It’s really important for us to make sure that the things that we have, that we’re able to repair, renew, or replace them when the time comes,” Siemens stressed. Winkler is looking at over $373 million in replacement costs for its various assets—public buildings, equipment, infrastructure, etc.—in the decades ahead.
Ensuring future generations are able to pay those bills without undue stress is a big part of the reason council is putting so much money into its reserve fund, the mayor explained, representing 30 per cent of the total budget this year.
Having a healthy reserve also allows the city to tackle large capital projects without having to hike taxes significantly in any given year, Siemens noted.
This year’s big projects include the water treatment plant expansion (pegged at $14.6 million), the wastewater treatment plant build ($53 million), and the Centennial Arena renovations ($23.7 million).
Funding from other levels of government will defray some of those costs, but the City of Winkler is still on the hook for millions to bring these projects to completion.
Siemens noted they’ve extended the tender deadline for the wastewater project to April 4. What those final numbers look like will determine whether it’s fiscally feasible to move forward with the arena project this year or not.
The 2024 financial plan will also see Winkler spend nearly $9 million on public works and recreation department equipment purchases ($777,000); transportation and drainage improvements ($1.75 million), which includes fixing North Railway St. between Main and 1st St; and the completion of the Clover Creek industrial park ($3.3 million), connecting Icon Dr. to Hwy. 14.
“We’re spending $9 million on projects outside of the big three,” Siemens observed. “We want to make sure we’re not just building new, but that we’re being very careful to make sure that we repair, replace and renew our existing assets as well.”
The city also has a fair bit of debt it is carrying from past capital projects, including $0.37 million left on the Pembina Ave. fire hall (slated to be paid off this year) and $13.97 million on the Meridian Exhibition Centre (which will be paid off in 2038).
Breaking it down
Of the $29,241,115 Winkler intends to spend in 2024, 56 per cent (approximately $16.3 million) is covered through taxes, with the remaining 44 per cent ($12.8 million) coming in through other revenue sources—things like public land sales, investments, provincial and federal funding, and recreational/cultural user fees.
When it comes to expenses, the transfer to reserves for future capital projects eats up the biggest share of the money at the aforementioned 30 per cent, followed by recreation/culture expenses (14 per cent of the budget), police (14 per cent), transportation (11 per cent), fiscal services (10 per cent), administration (10 per cent), waste disposal (four per cent), fire services (three per cent), economic (three per cent), and planning (two per cent).
So what does all this mean for taxpayers?
In his presentation of the financial plan last week, director of corporate services David Martens explained that with the municipal mill rate increasing from 13.302 in 2023 to 13.967 in 2024, the average taxpayer will pay about five per cent more this year.
A home valued at $300,000, for example, will pay $2,045—up $114 from 2023. That includes an increase in municipal taxes of about $90, plus $25 more in waste fees (those are set at $160 per household, compared to $135 last year).
A business valued at $1 million will pay $9,078 in taxes—an increase of $432 from the year before.
Winkler home and business owners will also pay an additional $91 on their taxes every year from now through 2027 for council’s health care funding special levy, which is earmarked to promote and support local health care services. Morden and Stanley have passed similar levies to address health care needs in the region.
“This is a levy that will be on your tax bills for only four years,” Martens explained. “In 2028, you will see this $91 disappear again.”
Mayor Siemens stressed that asking for a tax increase greater than the cost of inflation isn’t something council takes lightly.
“We’re keenly aware of the fact that we’re not the only expense that the community has,” he said. “So we want to be careful to make sure that before we come and ask, that it’s money we absolutely need to make sure that we are building the community we want today, and will also be the community that our children and grandchildren will want as well.”
