Winnipeg mayor needs to reassess financial priorities, Molly McCracken says

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman's second State of the City addressand 2016 operating budget move forward on business priorities but do not move forward quickly enough on substantive issues facing our city. The mayor should re-examine fiscal assumptions and the tools the city has at its disposal to have a maximum positive impact on people and the planet.

Bowman continues to reduce the business tax rate, an election commitment. These reductions began under Sam Katz and reduce the amount of money the city has to work with. The impetus is to match other cities' business tax rates. But when Western cities like Edmonton eliminated business taxes, they increased commercial property taxes to make up the difference and ensure no lost revenue. Winnipeg has not done this and as a result is shifting the tax burden disproportionately to residential property tax owners. The budget increases property taxes by 2.33 per cent; it alsoincreases the frontage fee levy from $4.35 per foot to $5.35 per foot.

• Winnipeg property taxes to rise by at least 2.33%, Mayor Bowman says
• Budget 2016: Winnipeggers to pay more property taxes, fees while businesses pay less

Last Thursday, Bowman announced Manitoba municipalities' provincial election campaign to demand one percentage point of the PST for infrastructure. Manitoba municipalities receive millions of dollars in investments cost-shared with the province, but continue to have financial shortfalls. Bowman is asking for more of the PST revenue but hasn't been supportive of the 2013 PST increase. Given federal off-loading and aging infrastructure, the province had little choice but to raise the PST to eight per cent. Bowman is silent on this increase while at the same time asking for a larger portion of the PST. This business-friendly mayor does not want to appear onside with any tax increases, but wants to spend the revenue from increases made by other levels of government. Bowman said repeatedly "no one likes to pay more tax," but taxes are what pay for the services and infrastructure citizens rely on. And more revenue, in the form of progressive taxes, is needed to deal with aging infrastructure, the climate and the poverty crisis.

Climate crisis

Cities need to use their existing tax levers while at the same time demanding change from other levels of government.The big city mayors met about this in Ottawa last month, and federal politicians indicated they may change the funding formula for big infrastructure projects in favour of municipalities. But municipalities will still have to raise revenue. Former mayor Sam Katz froze property taxes for 12 years, so there is room to catch up and Winnipeg is doing so with these property tax and frontage fee increases. Another option is for the city to use borrowing power to finance capital improvements as per the provincial and federal governments. Current city road improvements are cash to capital; the city is not borrowing to finance capital improvements needed to create the infrastructure Winnipeg needs, especially in the face of the climate crisis.

Last week the mayor announced a climate change committee will advise council. In order for Winnipeg to meet commitments set out in Plan Winnipeg and do our part to meet Canada's commitment to a 1.5 degree limit to global warming, we must address the Brady Landfill's emissions. Residential organic waste is a good portion of the waste in our landfill, and the city has an opportunity this month to demonstrate leadership and act on the waste management plan that's been in the works for five years. However, a motion from two city councillors risks stalling the current residential plan. Council should follow its own recommendation from 2011 to finance residential organic pickup from both general revenue and a service fee, or borrow to finance the new organic composting facility, thereby reducing the need to finance it all from a fee. Creating a sustainable Winnipeg for future generations means the mayor and council need to follow through on city plans using all tools at their disposal.

• Compost pickup fees in the works, says Winnipeg city councillor
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City tools need to be used to address the housing and homelessness crisis.Mayor and council could play a leadership role in initiating new housing and mixed-use development as the city owns land and controls zoning regulations. But Winnipeg does not champion social inclusion through city policies. Other cities are leading strongly on poverty issues. For example, Vancouver set aside land for the new federal social infrastructure dollars for affordable and social housing.

All policy tools must be on the table. The Plan to End Homelessness in Winnipeg was released 2014, however very few of the new units needed in the plan have been created. The recent street count found 1,700 people are homeless in Winnipeg. The mayor and council need to do more than fund homelessness plans, committees and outreach; they need to help create more housing.

• Child and family poverty in Manitoba a 'chronic nightmare,' report says

Brian Bowman did not mention poverty at all in his state of the city speech or the 2016 budget, even though poverty is arguably one of the most critical issues facing Winnipeg. Our office annually works collaboratively with community-based organizations to publish the State of the Inner City Report,which contains policy recommendations to address poverty. We hope the mayor considers the policy recommendations made over the past 11 years in these reports in the future.

Last year, the mayor addressed issues of racism decisively and the city has declared 2016 the Year of Reconciliation. Part of this reconciliation is ensuring indigenous people's and all people's human rights are respected, and basic needs are met so that people live a life of dignity and achieve their fullest potential. Our mayor needs to think bigger and work more closely with the community to lever municipal policy tools and resources in order to create an equitable city.

Molly McCracken is the director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba.