Mayor Cal Huntley hopes a vote-seeking provincial government will finally be receptive to Flin Flon city council’s quest for a base tax on properties.
Huntley said council again argued in favour of a base tax while meeting with provincial officials in Winnipeg during a recent Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) convention.
“Given that the present provincial government is in the situation that it’s in right now, one of the advantages is they may be looking for a different perspective to move forward on some things to better their chances [in] the next election,” said Huntley, speaking at last week’s council meeting. “So hopefully it was an opportune time for us to have those discussions.”
Huntley did not elaborate on the provincial government’s “situation,” but it’s no secret the NDP is down in the polls and widely viewed as unglued after several MLAs called on Premier Greg Selinger to resign.
While city council has long sought provincial permission to charge a base property tax, this time they tried a fresh argument, Huntley said.
“We approached it from a different perspective, I believe, characterized it a little bit differently,” said the mayor, “in that we told them that, ‘You know, you really don’t have any skin in the game. Just give us the tool to use and we’d take the heat by implementing it. It’s not on you guys.’”
Council received backup on the issue from other municipalities, as delegates at the AMM convention approved a Flin Flon-sponsored resolution calling for a base tax.
Huntley said that while he felt the government heard what council had to say on the matter, he’s “not sure what to expect with regards to actual activity or results afterwards.”
A base tax would reflect “the real costs of basic municipal services,” according to the resolution. It would amount to a minimum tax on properties, with any amount above the minimum determined by the value of a property.
Saskatchewan already allows municipalities to charge a base tax in this manner, but Manitoba has long resisted calls from Flin Flon and other communities.
Huntley said council has not determined what would constitute a reasonable base tax in Flin Flon.
“We wouldn’t get into figures, I don’t think,” he said. “I mean, we have a neighbouring community [in Creighton] that charges $750, but we’d actually have to do the calculations and look what [any provincial legislation] would allow us to do.”
