News Service
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Manitoba Government NEWS Information Services Branch Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg SERVICE MANITOBA Phone 946-7175 Date December 23. 1970. EQUALIZED MILL RATE IN NEW URBAN PLAN A system of mill-rate equalization and a program of provincial financial support during the transitional period to the taxpayers and to the proposed new urban structure is envisaged in the Manitoba government's position paper. Basically, the proposed restructuring of local government in Greater Winnipeg presupposes: .Region-wide standards of service, to the extent feasible and desirable. .Unification of local government staff in a common administrative and personnel system. .Equalization of mill rates. The policy statement said that a study involving equalization of mill rates covering general municipal spending throughout the area -- without any equalizatiamof the mill rate for education -- showed that, had such equalization been in effect in 1970, five municipalities would have had an actual decrease in mill rates These computations, the paper stressed, were "net raw" increases, and did not take into account any special input by the province nor an evening-out of certain education costs. The municipalities in which the mill rate would drop are: East Kildonan, Fort Garry, St. Boniface, Transcona and Winnipeg. For two others -- St. Vital and West Kildonan -- there would have been virtually no change. The five municipalities which would have experienced a net increase in mill rates, had there been equalization in 1970, are Charleswood, North Kildonan, Old KL1donan, St. James-Assiniboia and Tuxedo. Of these five, three would have shown more than a 2.5-mill increase, and only one -- Tuxedo -- would have shown an increase of more than 7.5 mills. The policy statement envisages both the equalization of the general municipal mill rate and a "partial equalization" of the education mill rate. The policy statement does not propose any major changes in school division boundaries in the nreater Winnipeg area, but it does note that the entire field of education costs and education tax burdens throughout Manitoba is under "active consideration." - more - - 2 - EQUALIZED MILL RATE But a change toward partial equalization of education mill rates in Greater Winnipeg would be in order, the statement indicates, bringing the total mill-rate picture close to the desirable goal of equalization while allowing "the kind of local flexibility which would still be required because school divisions are to be left essentially unchanged. At present, school mill rates include a provincial foundation plan levy, applicable in all unitary school divisions throughout Manitoba, plus a special levy set by municipalities on the recommendation of individual school divisions. The plan for Greater Winnipeg calls for the special school-divisions levy to be subdivided into: .A Greater Winnipeg education levy, equalized across the whole urban area. .Special levies, set by each school division within the metropolitan area, as desired and needed. These levies for residual costs would be substantially lower as a result of the overall equalized levy. The Greater Winnipeg education levy would then be fixed at a predetermined mill rate -- much as the provincial foundation plan operates for Manitoba as a whole -- and would be related to per-student costs in the urban area's school divisions. Money would be collected equally from all areas by the new Central Council and allocated to each school division on a per-student basis. Thus, the total general municipal and school mill rates would change from: .The present system of variable municipal mill rate, plus provincial foundation plan levy, plus variable division special levy, to .An equalized municipal mill rate, plus provincial foundation plan levy, plus the separation of the existing variable division special levy into an equalized Greater Winnipeg education levy, plus a smaller, variable division levy. - more - - 3 - EQUALIZED MILL RATE Had this new plan been in effect in 1970 -- even without any input of special provincial assistance -- eight municipalities would have experienced a net decrease in mill rate. These eight are: East Kildonan, Fort Garry, Old Kildonan, St. Boniface, St. Vital, Transccna, West Kildonan and Winnipeg. Four municipalities would have recorded net increases in the mill rate: Charleswood, North Kildonan, St. James-Assiniboia and Tuxedo. Of these, only Tuxedo would have shown a net "raw" increase of more than six mills. In addition to the mill-rate equalization plan, the province would undertake two measures to ensure that no undue hardship would be experienced by ratepayers as a result of the plan: 1.Confer on the provincial minister responsible for urban affairs the authority to review all local 1971 budgets to ensure no major new projects are under- taken by individual municipalities prior to unification that would result in sudden increases in local levies, and to ensure that existing resources and reserves are not eroded or dissipated prior to unification. 2.Absorption by the provincial government of a portion of the increase during the first two years of the transitional phase -- to the extent of two-thirds the increased amount in the first year and half the increase in the second year. -30- .