Brandon council uses grants, surplus to bring 6.7 per cent tax increase

Brandon residents are getting some relief, as city council has lowered this year’s property tax increase to 6.7 percent Saturday– down significantly from the 10.6 per first projected.

The reduction was made possible by $1 million in last minute funding from the province and drawing about $1 million from a municipal surplus.  

Mayor Jeff Fawcett told CBC council is working to bring stability to the budget and avoid major year-to-year tax swings.

“We want people to know, you know, what they’re really looking at year over year,” Fawcett said, adding provincial funding had a big impact on lowering the rate.

He cautioned that if similar funds from the province and surplus aren’t guaranteed next year and it’s not available to the city, “That’s going to cost us more.”

The city continues to carry about $170 million in debt from different capital projects, which Fawcett described as “good debt” for needed community infrastructure like water and drainage.

New debt accounted for about four per cent of this year’s increase.

Major projects behind the spending include— $50.3 million for water and wastewater treatment infrastructure, including a Water Treatment Facility expansion, $27.1 million for land drainage, $21.5 million for wastewater infrastructure, $17.8 million for facilities infrastructure and $13.5 million for transportation projects.

Not all in favour

Councillor Shawn Berry (Ward 7) was the sole vote against the 2026 budget.

“The percentage for me was just a little bit unpalatable,” Berry told CBC. “I don’t support these large tax increases.”

He made a last minute motion to reduce reserve appropriations by $440,000 to help reduce the tax rate, but it was defeated.

Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6) told CBC he’s heard from residents they’re OK with five to seven per cent increases if they understand where the money is going.

That makes it important for the council to get more public feedback from the community on the next budget.

“Get that earlier so their thoughts could be incorporated into, you know, what’s proposed when it comes to the budget,” he said.

Stability needed

Jennifer Ludwig, Brandon Chamber of Commerce president, says businesses need predictability after past tax swings made planning difficult. She pointed to the drop from almost 11 per cent to 6.7 per cent after council budget deliberations in January.

“The whole point of a rolling budget is to kind of spread these overall costs over a few years,” Ludwig said. “Allow us to plan better. … We are already doing it as our businesses, residents are already doing it in their homes. There’s really no reason that our city can’t do it as well.”

She said this stability is needed because the world is increasingly unpredictable with threats of tariffs and increases from Hydro and Brandon School Division– adding there are also concerns about keeping up with aging infrastructure in the city.  

She commends council for discussing difficult topics when it comes to savings, including a motion made by Coun. Glen Parker (Ward 9) that was defeated to reduce labour costs at one per cent, saving an estimated $460,000.

Parker argued it would drop the tax increase to 5.9 per cent. Fawcett noted that with a large vacancy rate around 20 per cent, it is unclear where to find these savings during deliberations.

Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2) said he trusted staff to find savings where possible– as shown by the budget’s drop from 16.9 per cent earlier this year– telling council it was, “the wrong message to send,” noting council has focussed on infrastructure growth over asset management.

Fawcett told CBC council is working toward stability after a couple years of large tax increases, but remaining adaptable. The goal is to provide a reliable budget outlook earlier in the process making it less of a “guessing game.”

“We could have dropped the budget lower,” Fawcett said. “But, we’d have been paying for it next year.”