Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg’s 2026 budget, released Friday, is another reminder of just how thin the financial ice is at city hall.
A proposed 3.5 per cent property tax increase and a series of modest fee hikes — including a 10-cent increase in transit fares — are enough to keep the books technically balanced for another year. But only just.
Beneath the surface, the numbers reveal a city that is barely staying afloat as costs rise faster than revenues and as the financial tools used to stave off deeper trouble grow weaker every year.
The underlying story is familiar but worsening: Winnipeg’s expenses continue to rise at more than five per cent annually, yet revenues from the province are expected to grow by only about two per cent next year.
That gap alone would be a serious concern. But the city’s finan