Growth-fee plan takes too much power from politicians, Bowman and councillor say

Winnipeg's proposed growth-fee plan hands too much discretionary spending power to the city's chief financial officer, Mayor Brian Bowman and property chairman John Orlikow said Friday.

The city is considering a plan to start levying development fees as soon as Jan. 1 in an effort to raise about $35 million in 2017 to pay for new infrastructure.

That plan, which is on hold, would give chief financial officer Mike Ruta the power to decide which projects would be eligible for the funds.

Bowman and Orlikow said they do not support this idea and would like to see it jettisoned if and when the growth-fee proposal comes back to councillors for a vote.

"I would like to see council decide," Bowman said Friday at city hall."Obviously, I want to see a dedicated fund for capital infrastructure that is intended to support growth and those decisions should be made by council."

Orlikow said many other members of council have a problem with the idea of delegating theauthority to approve projects to the CFO.

Several audits of major city projects conducted during the Sam Katz administration took issue with thedelegation of authority to administrators, especially when it involved the power toapprove the award of construction contracts,

"It's not up for an administrator to decide. It's up forcouncil to decide. They can recommend, but at the end of the day, the ultimate authority should be council," he said.

Winnipeg communications director Felicia Wiltshire said while the wording of the report suggests the chief financial officer would decide how to manage the funds that would be raised through growth fees, council would still have the final say as to how that money would be spent.

"As manager of the reserve fund, the chief financialofficer would determine which, and to what extent, capital works would be eligible for funding. Approval for expenditures from the reserve fund would be subject to council approval during the annual capital budget process as council directs spending for the City of Winnipeg," Wiltshire said in a statement.

• Growth fees on hold in Winnipeg, but it's not clear how long

Council's executive policy committee voted Wednesday to put off a decision on the growth-fee plan indefinitely, though Bowman would not rule out a vote some time this fall.

The mayor has also said he would like to see the plan amended to exempt infill development from the fees. Downtown development agency CentreVenturesaid the imposition of fees would run counter to inner-city revitalization efforts.

In correspondence obtained by CBC Manitoba,Winnipeg's planning, property and development director saidthe blanket application of growth fees to all areas of the city would violate Our Winnipeg, the city's long-term planning framework.

Developers and the construction companies also oppose the plan, claiming it's based in faulty data and is being rushed through city hall without any meaningful consultation with their industries. Projects three years in the making would suddenly become unviable if the fees are imposed in mere months, they said.

Orlikow is meeting with some city councillors later Friday to hear what they have to say about the plan. Whilesome councillors have stated theylike the idea, most have expressed reservations about some or all aspects of the plan.

"The group may say 'We love the bylaw as it stands.' The majority of council may say 'We're good to go.' But I don't think so," Orlikow quipped.

Orlikow and Bowman also said there is no connection between Wednesday's decision to hold off on voting on growth fees and Thursday's announcement that Winnipeg will table its 2017 budget on Nov. 22.

The mayor insists he does not intend to use growth fees to balance the city's operating budget.