The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Mayor Dennis Ballard is applauding a powerful lobby for its efforts to try and extract more education funding from the Manitoba government. The Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) wants the province to cover 80 per cent of education costs, about a 20 per cent boost over the current level. Individual municipalities would look after the remaining 20 per cent. While the province has been raising its funding portion, many school boards agree that the money has not been enough to keep up with elevating costs. That's prompted many boards to increase their share of the special levy, the portion of education funding that comes from property taxes. But rather than pass those hikes onto taxpayers, some cautious local governments have been absorbing them at the expense of municipal projects. That's what has happened in Flin Flon, prompting Mayor Ballard and his council, as well as elected officials across the province, to ask AMM to look at the issue. "As long as we're eating [special levy increases] because we don't want to raise taxes, there's less money for services. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out," said the mayor. "You're always in this pinch ? you've got x amount of money and you can only do x amount with that money." Though the Flin Flon School Board's recent special levy gains have not ranked high on a provincial scale, the mayor said the boosts add up over time. In the 2004 City budget, nearly half of the $8 million in projected revenues were to go to the school division. While he has called on the local school trustees to cut spending rather than seek more money, Mayor Ballard said he recognizes the board's hands are often tied by laws requiring certain educational programs. "The education system has gone merrily ahead and passed all sorts of legislation requiring schools to do all sorts of things," he said. "They've gone ahead and passed all this legislation without taking on the cost of it." School boards may have to cut programs for the public to start calling on the province to chip in more cash, the mayor said, adding that public demand is what spurs change in government. Flin Flon Superintendent of Schools Blaine Veitch agrees that the province needs to take action to address the situation. See 'Challenge' P.# Con't from P.# "Provincially, probably the greatest challenge is the funding," he said in a previous interview. "The percentage of provincial funding continually decreases compared to expenditures of the division. As the provincial support decreases, that means there is more requirement on the local taxpayer." AMM president Stuart Briese said many communities are at their wit's end over the issue. "The reliance for education costs just continues to go up every year on property and it can't continue to do that," he said. "It's taking away, urban or rural municipality, the ability to provide the infrastructure to the people. "When [municipalities] are only in charge of 50 per cent of their budget, it gets pretty difficult to provide the service they've got to provide." Briese acknowledged it isn't feasible to think the province could boost its share to 80 per cent right away. "To even split the cost 80-20 requires about $350 million," he said. The AMM plans to raise the matter with Finance Minister Greg Selinger during pre-budget consultations for the 2005 budget. The association was previously part of a task force that submitted a report to the province recommending the 80 per cent figure. Other groups on the task force included the Manitoba Municipal Administrators Association and the Manitoba Association of School Trustees. Briese said there are things the province can do to help keep education costs down. One of his suggestions is to have the government look after contract negotiations for teachers across the province. Since individual school boards currently conduct their own bargaining, a single, more free-spending board is able to essentially set the bar higher for other boards. Mayor Ballard believes the issue is in good hands with the AMM. "If you want something done, you're wise to go through AMM for it," he said.
