The City of Winnipeg released its much-anticipated 2020 budget last week. This first-ever four-year budget plan includes modest increases to funding for most services, a 2.33% property tax increase that’s dedicated to road repair and rapid transit, and the continued operation of all recreation and library facilities.
On Monday, we hosted Budget for Breakfast with Councillor Scott Gillingham, who discussed a little more about what to expect from the budget.
The budget reflects several recommendations made by the Winnipeg Chamber in its budget submission to council, including:
- Selling the John Blumberg Golf Course and planning to repurpose 30% of other city golf land
- Reducing the city’s real estate footprint by reviewing office space requirements and selling buildings that are surplus to the city’s needs
- Investing $4.2 million to digitize the building permit process
- Reducing the business tax rate from 4.97% to 4.84%, and increasing the threshold for the small business tax credit from $33,900 to $35,700. Business tax revenue will be frozen from 2021 to 2023.
- Reducing grants by 10% to external organizations that aren’t providing a direct service to the City of Winnipeg.
- Creating a Transformative Fund to invest in innovative service delivery.
Full details of the city budget can be found at:
https://www.winnipeg.ca/Interhom/Budget/2020Budget/default.stm
