Manitoba -Budget Delivers 10th Property Tax Freeze, Cuts Business Tax
Budget delivers 10th property tax freeze, cuts business tax
…but the real budget news is renewal of frontline services, Mayor says
MEDIA RELEASE:
WINNIPEG February 22, 2007 – Committed to delivering on its promise to reinvest in frontline services, Executive Policy Committee today tabled its first operating budget of the new term. The budget includes the City’s 10th consecutive property tax freeze, and cuts the business tax outside downtown from 9.75% to 7.75%, a 20% reduction.
Mayor Sam Katz announced the 2007 preliminary budget at City Hall today and cited the removal of “snow windrows” on street boulevards that are fronting commercial establishments as a frontline service in need of improvement. A “snow windrow” is the term given to snow piles on boulevards that are created as a result of the street snow clearing operations and these windrows can act as a barrier to people parked on the street. Traditionally, boulevard windrows are left in place on most streets. Now, with $2 million in new snow removal funding, City Hall hopes to start reducing windrows and the barriers that they may present in the winter.“Snow windrow removal is one of over a dozen frontline services that will see enhancements in 2007,” Mayor Katz said. “We told the public we’d make frontline services a priority, and we have. We’ll be hauling more snow, cutting more grass, cleaning more streets and pruning more trees this year,” Katz said.
“We’ve also built in permanent funding for the Crimestat initiative and the Street Crime Unit, enhancing our crime prevention and police response services,” said Katz. “The days of neglecting our necessities are over.”
Many of the proposed 2007 service enhancements are possible because of a growing tax base. The City expects to collect over $14 million in new property tax revenue from growth this year, without raising the mill rate. Winnipeg is also seeing the benefits of a conservative policy on reserves, with surplus dollars in those reserves available to fund one-time projects. Finally, a cut of $2 million is budgeted for various internal efficiencies in the city administration.
“It’s fitting that this is the year we focus on rebuilding frontline services,” said Katz, noting that 2007 is the first test run of a new “service-based budgeting” process.
Publication of this initial service-based budget delivers on a commitment in the Mayor’s 2004 Action Plan.
“This year’s budget process was more positive, more constructive, and more about problem solving than any in recent history,” said Councillor Mike O’Shaughnessy. “Councillors can now move from deliberations about dollars and cents to decisions about outcomes and results.”
The operating budget will be presented at a special city council meeting held March 20th, 2007.
This article comes from NationTalk:
https://nationtalk.ca
The permalink for this story is:
https://nationtalk.ca/story/manitoba-budget-delivers-10th-property-tax-freeze-cuts-business-tax
Comments are closed.