Winnipeg School Division discusses 'dire' $5.5M budget gap

At a Winnipeg School Division meeting Monday night, finance chair Chris Broughton said the school division faces a "dire" financial situation — an unexpected $5.5 million budget shortfall.

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An unprecedented number of commercial property owners downtown have appealed their property tax assessments and effectively reduced the WSD's tax base by $158.6 million, according to the Winnipeg School Division (WSD).

"Unfortunately many of the assessment appeals that the city would normally process in the fall got pushed back into the New Year. Those assessment appeals got processed and we received late last week, a change in the assessed value of Winnipeg school division properties," said Broughton.

Mark Wasyliw, chair of the Winnipeg School Division (WSD), said the nearly $160 million drop in commercial property value is "shocking."

"We can't remember a time at the Winnipeg School Division where commercial property in Winnipeg was devalued so much," said Wasyliw.

This year's reassessment is roughly three times higher than in 2014, Broughton said.

The WSD planned on increasing its 2016/17 budget by 5 per cent but the smaller tax base has put that projected increase in limbo.

The school board can either draw more revenue from residential property taxes or cut planned programs and services.

If the school division chooses the first option, it would translate to a 6.4 per cent increase in residential property taxes for people who live in the Winnipeg School Division area or approximately $80 per household, the WSD said.

Alternatively, cutting $5.5 million from the budget would be the equivalent of axing 60 teachers from the Winnipeg School Division, Broughton said. 

Staff make up 86 per cent of the division's budget, he said.

"There isn't a lot of other money to trim off," Broughton said.

"We've been talking about cutting milk from students. While we're the only division that delivers milk subsidy, the fact that we're so close to the bone that we're talking about cutting milk is significant."

The situation reveals why Manitoba's school system needs to rely less on property tax revenue which can fluctuate dramatically, said Wasyliw.

"You just can't run an education system where $5 million can disappear overnight," he said.

The Winnipeg School Division is "grossly underfunded" by the province, said Broughton.

The school board plans to meet with parents over the next week to decide how to address its 2016/17 budget gap.