Browaty latest councillor to call Winnipeg's budget a 'shell game'

Coun. Jeff Browaty is the latest elected official to call Winnipeg's budget a "shell game."

The North Kildonan councillorissued a statement Tuesday decrying the annual city property-tax hike that's dedicated to raising money for rapid-transit projects.

The 0.33-percentage-point hike will raise $1.8 million for the city in 2017. Browaty called the collection of this revenue a"shell game" because the pricetag for completing the Southwest Transitway has dropped $120 million to $467 million.

"Long before the budget was tabled this year, the mayor and EPC became aware that the project is now coming in at least $120-million under budget due to ingenuity found by using the P3 procurement process," Browaty stated in a news release, calling on Mayor Brian Bowman to scrap that hike or spend the proceeds on conventional transit.

"If this is the mayor's backdoor way of trying to get a jump on future legs of rapid transit, without the approval of council, he should come clean and tell all taxpayers, rather than play this shell game."

Bowman has pledged to complete six rapid-transit corridors by 2030, a goal that appears unlikely considering the Southwest Transitway Winnipeg's first bus corridor won't be finished until 2020.

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Browaty is now the third member of council to apply the "shell game" epithet against the 2017 budget.

Couns. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) and Ross Eadie(Mynarski) used the term to describe the other two percentage points of the property-tax hike, which are supposed to be dedicated for roadwork.

That hike will generate $10.9 million in additional revenue for the city next year, while the city's roadwork budget will remain static at $105 million.

Council votes on the 2017 budget on Dec. 13.