Flin Flon’s tax and utility increases may be forcing more residents to rely on the food bank, city council heard Tuesday.
Dennis Hydamaka, food distribution chairman with Lord’s Bounty Food Bank, said the facility has welcomed 48 new client families since the city boosted taxes on low-end homes and overall utility rates last year.
“I’m sure it’s a coincidence,” Hydamaka told council in a deadpan tone.
Picking up on the apparent sarcasm, Mayor Cal Huntley replied: “I know you’re saying that sincerely.”
Council’s tax increase on low-end homes, known as the special services levy, was enacted on a one-year trial basis last year.
Council hopes to renew the levy for another four years, but the fee faces a make-or-break hearing on Thursday, May 7 at 7 pm at city hall council chambers.
The Manitoba Municipal Board, a quasi-judicial panel with the final ruling on the levy, will host the hearing to give the public its say.
The hearing comes after the board received at least 40-plus notices from residents opposed to the levy, far more than the 25 required for a hearing.
Council argues the levy is necessary to partially bridge an unfairly large gap between the taxes paid by low-end homes and those paid by high-end homes.
Opponents of the levy fear it targets residents who can least afford tax increases, including pensioners and those with low incomes.
According to the city, in 2014 the highest tax increase paid by a homeowner due to the levy (then set at $550) was $340. The unrelated trend of rising property values also drove up taxes.
Council hopes to renew the levy for another four years, increasing it by $50 in 2015 and then as much as three per cent in each of 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Meanwhile, Flin Flon’s utility bills went up 30 per cent effective October 1, 2014.
The boost saw residents who do not have water meters – the vast majority of residents – pay an additional $258 a year.
For residents with water meters, rates also went up 30 per cent across all meter sizes and consumption categories.
The city has said those increases were necessary to cover operating costs at the water treatment plant, which completed its first full calendar year in 2014.
