Winnipeg Homeowners Are Paying More. City Hall Should Prove the Value

A listener of my Inside Politics podcast sent me a note this week that cuts to the core of a growing frustration.

Jack from North Kildonan told me his property assessment jumped nearly 19 percent. His point was straightforward. If assessments rise that sharply, the city should lower the mill rate so homeowners are not hit with what amounts to a tax increase dressed up as something else.

He is not wrong.

When assessments climb and the mill rate stays the same, the city collects more revenue. That is how the formula works. Yet the public conversation often focuses on the mill rate alone, as though that is the only number that matters. Families and business owners do not pay a mill rate. They pay a total bill.

Mayor Scott Gillingham often points out that Winnipeg has among the lowest property tax rates in the country. On a narrow comparison of rates, that can be true. But once you add frontage levies, garbage fees, water and sewer charges, permit costs, and the growing list of service fees, the claim of being the “lowest” becomes harder to defend. What matters is not the rate in isolation. It is what leaves your bank account.

Over the past 12 years, during Gillingham’s time as finance chair and now mayor, property taxes have risen year after year. Utility rates have increased. Fees have increased. The city’s share of household income has grown steadily.

The reasonable question is what has improved alongside those increases.

Are our roads in better condition than they were a decade ago? Every spring provides a public inspection. Potholes return. Major corridors face prolonged construction. Residential streets wait years for renewal. Winnipeg has invested heavily in road repairs, yet the average driver would struggle to argue that the system feels transformed.

Has crime declined in a way that changes daily life? Winnipeg continues to rank high on national measures of violent crime severity. Businesses are spending their own money on security upgrades and private patrols. Homeowners are installing cameras and reinforcing doors. Those are rational responses, but they are not signs of a city that feels safer than it did years ago.

Have core services become faster or more reliable? Snow clearing, transit performance, emergency response times, permit approvals. Residents can judge based on their own experiences.

This is not about attacking individuals. It is about measuring results.

In the private sector, if a company raises prices every year, customers expect a better product or better service. If they do not see improvement, they look elsewhere. Taxpayers do not have that option. They are required to pay, whether the value improves or not.

The same pattern exists beyond City Hall. Governments collect income tax from your paycheque. You then use what remains to pay fuel taxes to drive to work. Sales taxes apply when you buy goods. Carbon taxes are embedded in energy costs. Fees are layered into licences, registrations, and permits. Money is taxed when it is earned and taxed again when it is spent.

People are entitled to ask where the limit is.

The broader concern is not simply that governments collect revenue. It is that revenue growth rarely triggers a disciplined review of outcomes. When assessments surge across neighbourhoods like North Kildonan, council should be debating whether the mill rate ought to adjust downward to prevent an automatic windfall. If the decision is to take in more, it should be explicit and justified, not buried in technical language.

Residents also deserve a clear accounting of what each additional dollar achieves. If road condition scores improve, publish the data. If crime rates fall, show the numbers. If service response times shrink, document the change. Tie revenue increases directly to measurable progress. That kind of transparency would either validate the spending or force a serious conversation about priorities.

Instead, the pattern feels predictable. Costs rise. Taxes follow. The total bill grows. Meanwhile, many of the same complaints persist.

Winnipeggers are not asking for perfection. They are asking for value. If we are going to contribute more of our income each year to City Hall, and more to the province and Ottawa, then daily life should reflect that investment in visible, measurable ways.

After more than a decade of steady increases under the current fiscal leadership, it is fair to examine the record. Not emotionally. Not politically. Just factually.

Are we safer? Are our roads smoother? Are services more efficient? Is our city more competitive for investment and business growth?

If the answer is mixed at best, then continuing to rely on the talking point that we have the “lowest rates” misses the point entirely.

The real issue is not how we rank on a chart. It is whether the total taxes and fees we pay are producing a city that is clearly improving.

That is a reasonable standard. And it is one taxpayers have every right to demand.

Read more from Kevin Klein at The Winnipeg Sun.