Discussions

A near 12% tax increase, one year after a near 10% increase. Ridiculous. And their excuse is to blame the mistakes of the last city councilors. Seriously?  
 
Guess who was sitting in those city councillor seats? Thaaaat's right, most of these people, including the mayor. Try again with your excuses and do better for us.

I share your frustration. It's unfortunate that the increases in the past weren't larger, so the increments were smaller tonet us where we need to be revenue-wise.  
 
As tempting as it is to vote for politicians who promise to keep taxes low, the reality is that costs will never stop going up, and revenue needs to keep pace. We haven't done that as a city (neither did Winnipeg, which is facing a similarly large increase). Remember this lesson when you vote next time and someone promises to not raise taxes.  
 
In a related note, the Public Utilities Board is imposing an increase to insurance rates almost double what MPI proposed, the reasoning that MPI's own actuaries say they need a bigger increase than what was ultimately proposed. Good on them. Sucks to pay more, but good that someone is listening to the actual bean counters.  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2025-01-11 19:37:03

Just for a little deeper look, this presentation from Monday looks at the different areas of revenue and expense including a breakdown of where new proposed spending is going:  
https://www.brandon.ca/images/pdf/2025_budget/Jan_06_Budget_2025_Overview.pdf  
 
And for anyone wanting to go deeper still, a lot more budget docs at:  
https://www.brandon.ca/budget/2025-budget

When I bought my house in Brandon back in mid 2000's I felt my taxes were pretty low at around $600.  
 
Granted it was a 1940's 620 sq' house with a 200 sq' basement, 1 bed, 1 bath and no out buildings.  
 
I built a 2 car detached garage so naturally the taxes would go up with that, but by the time I sold in 2022 the taxes were around $1800, so they definitely went up.  
 
10+% increases year over year is kind of insane though, I think cities need to start focusing solely on core infrastructure and get away from all this beautification and waste, simple function over form.  
 
Paying for art spaces, fancy flowers, welcome signs, etc should be reserved for when you have an abundance, not when you're trying to scratch by  
 
Edited by hutchster, 2025-01-12 09:48:49

In the first link in Adam's post, can someone who understands this better explain what falls under Grant's and Contributions (11.2 million) and Contract Services (10.2 million) ?

I agree with the post. The flowers and teams watering them have to go. The library has so many staff that are sitting around doing nothing when I go there. Is sock snowman an essential course? The Brandon Museum funding hopefully has been pulled. City vehicle use needs to be reviewed. Can they make do with smaller more efficient vehicles? There are also so many recreation staff. Is Ninja Warrior Training essential? Times are tough and we need to look at what is essential vs nice.

If I had a criticism (and I have many) my biggest beef would be that charitable organizations come to city council asking for donations and many are granted. This takes tax dollars away from core services that should be the city's main focus. This practice also unilaterally decides for me and everyone else what charities we support. So my tax dollars go to a cause I might disagree with at the expense of reduced infrastructure maintenance.  
Send the charities into the community to raise funds and let the city manage the city.

Grants & Contribution  
 
Here is a link that will give you the gist of it..  
https://bdnmb.ca/applications-now-accepted-for-2024-municipal-grant-funding/  
 
In a nutshell, its some funding for registered charities and non-profits who contribute to the economic and social fabric of the city.  
 
Contract Services  
 
I would assume that's an umbrella for anything they have to farm out (hiring an outside contractor) because they either don't have the staff, or it's easier/more cost effective do that. I didn't find anything specific after a very brief search.  
 
If you want more clarity, I would suggest maybe starting with your counselor.

A question for those who are complaining that the city should focus on "core services" ...  
 
Are you the same people that complains when the city tries to make changes to reduce the cost of core services (like building more densely, adding bike lanes etc)?

I know of one department that has reduced its fleet of vehicles from 6 down to 4, and have reduced their full-time staff by one person. Add on top of that their fleet is 2013 hybrids...those hybrids will now be 12 years old, and the only direction to make them more efficient would be to purchase charging stations. Even keeping costs low is expensive.  
 
Edited by PrimeConvoy, 2025-01-13 09:43:11

looking at the over bloated admin / management structure

Please explain how adding bike lanes reduces cost of core services. I'm not being a SA , I just don't see the connection.