City of Winnipeg passes 2019 budget

Winnipeg is a great and constantly growing city. Our city authorities recognize a need for constant growth and development as the city`s population grows every year.

The City of Winnipeg tabled its budget for 2019 on Friday, March 1st. Some of the highlights include a regular tax rise, but a decrease in roads spending by $29.6 million to $86.4 million.

Despite hints of a massive property tax increase, Mayor Brian Bowman said it wasn’t fair for city taxpayers to shoulder an $85 million funding shortfall, which he put squarely in the pockets of the province.

The city said the province left a $40 million gap in funding by failing to fulfill the fifth year of its $250 million, five-year roads funding agreement in 2018.

Most of the projects are finished on time, as it was planned at the beginning of 2018. Let’s be patient and hope road construction workers will finish all the projects soon and that will make our city a better place to drive and live in.

For a complete list of projects roads involved in reconstruction, please visit the link: https://winnipeg.ca/publicworks/construction/roadway/map.asp.

Also, a couple of weeks ago Justin Trudeau, along with Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman, announced a federal government partnership with the city on transit infrastructure. Bowman said the funding agreement would see $2.8 million from the city added to $2.5 million from the federal government to make improvements to the Winnipeg Transit vehicle fleet.

City authorities recognize and understand the importance of constant transport infrastructure growth and modernization to be able to satisfy the needs of Winnipeg citizens and a workforce visiting our city every day. Mayor Brian Bowman says the city transport system needs a major overhaul.