Winnipeg draft budget must address big questions

A library is not just a place for people to take out books or use a computer, Mary Burton says.

"Libraries are important because they are a wealth of knowledge," said the executive director of Fearless R2W, a non-profit that oversees community safety hosts in Winnipeg libraries and other locations.

"The librarians are experienced and caring people, and libraries are a safe haven for people." 

A debate over the proper role of city libraries arose this week after Coun. Evan Duncan, chair of the community services committee, told CBC News he would like to see the social services hub Community Connections moved out of the downtown Millennium Library.

"The City of Winnipeg's jurisdiction is not with social services. Unfortunately, that is a provincial responsibility," he said Friday in an interview with Information Radio host Marcy Markusa.

That debate over the library's function could extend to all services the municipal government provides.

As the city prepares to release its draft 2024 budget on Wednesday — the first of the next four-year budget cycle — questions over who should do what and how to pay for it will have to be answered.

Chris Lorenc, the president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, calls this "a transition year," with an opportunity for a new economic partnership between the city and province.

"I see 2024 as positioning the mayor and the premier of our province to build on an already established, very good working relationship, to chart us through that discussion," Lorenc said.

He hopes to see a "blank-page reassessment" of which levels should do what, and how they should be funded, with new revenue-sharing agreements between the two governments.

Mayor Scott Gillingham has warned for weeks this year's budget will include little in the way of new spending, as the city struggles to maintain services amid rising inflation. 

An inclusive city

For Burton, as the city juggles competing priorities it needs to invest in libraries.

"We need to keep those librarians in place so that they can help … everybody do what they need to do," she said.

A report last fall said the city needed to hire 12 more full-time library staff at a cost of $11 million over the next four years. 

That would be enough to keep the city's libraries open a total of 250 more hours per year. Money would go toward hiring more staff, increasing operating hours and improving collections, programming and services.

Some of the primary users of library services are newcomers who need to access information, according to Reuben Garang, executive director of Immigration Partnership of Winnipeg.

He would like to see efforts made to recruit members from Winnipeg's newcomer communities to work in city services such as libraries and recreation centres as part of concrete actions to implement the Newcomer Welcome and Inclusion Policy. 

"That is how you create a welcoming and inclusive city, which is to make sure that policies and programs are reflective of the local population that we have," he said.

In September, council adopted a strategic framework for the third phase of the policy, which called for the hiring of a newcomer services co-ordinator, tasked with supporting projects to diversify the city's workforce.

Downtown

The inclusion of downtown in council's Strategic Priorities Action Plan, adopted in May, gives Kate Fenske hope for investments in the city's core area.

That includes "basic service," such as graffiti removal and litter pickups, snow clearing, spring cleanup, said the executive director of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ.

"Those are things we hear regularly from the downtown community … that it's really important that our downtown looks like it is well cared for," she said.

She also wants to see the city continue to spend on social services including 24/7 safe spaces, the Amoowigamig public washroom and the Downtown Community Safety Partnership.

Any spending decisions the city makes must consider the long-term costs, says Michel Durand-Wood, a Winnipeg resident who writes about municipal issues on his blog, Dear Winnipeg.

"What happens when we build a piece of infrastructure for example, whether it's a road, a pool, whatever it is … it not only costs money in the year you build it, but it also commits you to future costs in future operating budgets," he said.

Return on investment

Rather than spending hundreds of millions on road expansion projects such as the Kenaston Boulevard widening or Chief Peguis Trail extension, Durand-Wood says the city should work to implement the transit master plan and build out the rapid transit network. 

Those changes also carry hefty costs — $538.9 million for the master plan, and $588 million to $1.1 billion to complete a three-line bus rapid transit network.

Last month, Mayor Scott Gillingham said the city's subsidy to cover the costs of operating transit is expected to grow to $37 million above what it had projected back in 2020. 

The best way to get people to use Winnipeg Transit, and thus narrow that gap, is to make sure the buses run frequently, says Kyle Owens, executive director of Functional Transit.

Council recently approved a plan to speed up the implementation of the frequent transit network, starting in 2025.

"For people who think that transit is expensive, consider the expense of not investing in transit," Owens said.

"The cost of forcing every person in the city to try and afford a car, and the infrastructure necessary for people to have cars … is unsustainable."

Lorenc, the head of the heavy construction association, also called for the city to consider its return on investment when making spending decisions.

He would like to see a chief economic development officer, similar to the city's chief financial officer, who would examine every dollar spent by the city for how much money it is expected to generate.

"To grow the economy, we need more shoulders, more businesses, more entities paying taxes, versus a stagnant number of taxpayers paying for ever increasing costs of service and ever increasing demands of service," he said.

Council will consider the budget at its meeting on March 20.