Budget cuts hold line on property taxes

There is no property tax increase in the city of Winnipeg's operating budget for 2004.

The preliminary document was tabled on Tuesday at Winnipeg city hall.

Mayor Glen Murray says taxes will not rise thanks to a combination of administrative cost cuts, reductions in capital spending, and a seven-million dollar GST rebate from the federal government.

Murray admits numbers had to be stretched to achieve the property tax freeze.

"What we're doing is managing our existing money very, very well," says Murray. "We're spreading the sheet much too thinly over the bed. We've got a queen sized sheet and a king sized bed."

Winnipeg's Chief Administrative Officer, Anita Stenning, says every department was told to find savings, right down to the number of paperclips used.

The close inspection results in postponing the replacement of some older computers and other work to be done less often.

"Sometimes it's delaying of maintenance cycles where you may take it from a 14-day cycle to 15," says Stenning. "It's not something we want to brag about, but it is something that we can certainly support and tolerate as a community."

Stenning says managers were told to find savings in areas not blatantly obvious to the general public, which means such programs as mosquito control will not be touched.

Among other highlights of the operating budget:

• The business tax remains frozen at 9.75 per cent, the same level since 1996
• Winnipeg police to receive an increase of $2.6 million
• Winnipeg's fire and paramedic service to receive $3.5 million more
• Held back until next year are about four million dollars of previously-approved capital projects for 2004
• Included is a proposal to implement user fees for garbage pickup by next year.