City of Winnipeg prepares to release budget amid massive fiscal pressure
CBC
The City of Winnipeg is preparing to release a budget amid financial pressures unlike anything anyone serving on council has seen before.
Mayor Scott Gillingham has warned for weeks the city does not have enough money to cover basic services and infrastructure.
Sources have told CBC News the 2025 budget is expected to contain a 5.95 per cent property tax increase, breaking a promise Gillingham made during the 2022 municipal election not to raise property taxes more than 3.5 per cent.
Gillingham has said he will not comment on a possible tax increase before the budget is released.
The city's latest financial update predicted a $23.4 million deficit in 2024. Budgets in recent years have left nothing in the city's reserve fund, and cancelling a planned $14.3 million transfer to the fund leaves the city with $9.1 million it may have to carry over into next year.
One question is the fate of the Community Connections space inside the Millennium Library. Funding for the space, which is staffed by librarians and community crisis workers, is set to run out at the end of the year.
According to a report to the community services committee last month, from October last year until this September, Community Connections handled 24,300 requests for service — 43 per cent for all library requests at Millennium.
"This innovative, effective space is also one of the busiest spaces in Millennium," said Kirsten Wurmann, program co-ordinator with the Manitoba Library Association.
Safety and security have been ongoing concerns at the library. A man was fatally stabbed inside the lobby two years ago.
With its space inside the doors of the library, but before the metal detectors and security guards at the main entrance, Wurmann says it offers a low-barrier way for people to access information.
The report states that Community Connections staff often work with people who may find the library difficult to navigate, or who are at risk of becoming escalated.
Former community services chair Coun. Evan Duncan questioned whether the library is the appropriate place for the service.
He also said the province should fund it, arguments echoed by current chair Coun. Vivan Santos, who declined to comment before the budget release.
"I've heard from staff that they're very concerned about what will happen to their patrons, to the folks that they serve here at Community Connections. And they also worry about the staff and the library space itself."
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