6 ways Winnipeg living will cost you more in 2018

Every year, living costs you more. But not everything gets more expensive at the same rate. 

Here are six City of Winnipeg fees or taxes that are set to rise at a rate that exceeds the rate of inflation, based on the consumer price index hovering around 2.1 per cent: 

Winnipeg Transit

If you board a Winnipeg Transit bus on Jan. 1, a full cash fare will cost you $2.95, up 25 cents from 2017. This is the largest transit hike in more than a decade and Mayor Brian Bowman blames it on a provincial decision to end a long-term deal by which Manitoba used to cover half of Winnipeg Transit's non-fare-supported operating costs.

• Winnipeg budget 2018: Bus fares and parking fees up, infrastructure spending down

The fare hike also means a weekly transit pass will cost $26 instead of $23.50, a monthly pass will rise to $100.10 from $90.50 and an annual pass will rise to $1,107.60 from $1,001.40.

Expect a last-minute bus-pass purchase rush this weekend.

Property taxes

The coming year will be the fourth in a row where the municipal portion of your property taxes will rise another 2.33 per cent.

This will cost the average Winnipeg household $39.48, based on the notion the average Winnipeg home has an assessed value of $296,560 in 2018.

Remember, municipal property taxes do not include the provincial property taxes that pay for education, even though the city has to collect those taxes on behalf of the province. School boards can and do hike taxes at whatever rate they see fit.

Downtown parking

Starting on April 1, 60 minutes of parking on a street where you pay a loonie an hour right now will cost you $2.50. An hour of parking on what now a toonie-an-hour space will cost you $3.50.

This $1.50-an-hour rise is supposed to increase turnover by motivating more motorists to pull into surface-parking lots or parkades. It also generates more revenue for the city, which in turn reduce the pressure to increase property taxes.

The hike was originally planned at a loonie an hour, but was boosted another 50 cents in order to stave off Winnipeg Transit service cuts.

• Transit cuts off the table thanks to $1.50/hour parking price hike

Both the Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone and the Exchange District BIZ have expressed concern the hike is too high for a single year, even though they support the idea of higher parking rates in principle.

Parking fines

And if you don't ante up for parking, you might find yourself paying more for the ticket. 

While parking ticket prices aren't going up, the discount for paying within 15 days of the offence is going down to 25 per cent, from 50 per cent this year.

That means the early payment of an ordinary parking ticket — say, for parking too long in a given street — will cost $52.50 instead of $35 next year. The early payment of a ticket for parking at a fire hydrant will cost you $75 instead of $50.

These changes also go into effect on April 1.

Brady Road landfill

Dumping fees are also going up next year. It will cost you $64 a tonne to rid yourself of residential waste at the Brady Road landfill next year, up from $63 this year. The minimum charge is also rising, to $20 from $15.

If you're hauling commercial waste, you'll be dinged $78 a tonne, up from $72 this year. The minimum charge is rising to $20 from $15 for this waste as well.

Both of these hikes take effect on March 1.

Household garbage

While no waste-collection fees are on the rise for all households next year, the city will ding you more if you have too much trash to fit into rolling bins.

The cost of dispensing with an extra garbage bag of waste will be $20 as of March 1, up from $15 right now.