Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 29, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba SCHOOL IS OUT? THE ZOO IS IN! Receive 25% off children’s admission for the Friday, January 31 in-service day. Discounts will be applied to children’s tickets purchased for the day of January 31, 2025. OPEN DAILY PRESENTED BY AssiniboinePark.ca WEDNESDAY JANUARY 29, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM SECTION B CONNECT WITH WINNIPEG’S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE ▼ CITY ● BUSINESS Rollins to vote against city budget A CITY councillor says she will vote against this year’s budget due to her concerns about governance and trans- parency, after she abruptly resigned from executive policy committee last week. Sherri Rollins says she will oppose the budget in a final council vote to- day. Rollins said the financial blueprint lacks critical information, including de- tails about the next round of water and sewer rates, which she expects could have a major effect on the affordability of city services. “We should not be passing a budget until we have that information and Win- nipeggers can see it. … When you (are) missing a critical detail about water and sewer bills that householders will pay, it should be incorporated immedi- ately,” said Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry). With a north end sewage treatment plant upgrade slated to cost at least $2.38 billion, a price staff warn could rise to around $3 billion, the councillor said there’s a clear risk Winnipeg utility rates could skyrocket to help pay for it. Since city staff have said the next round of water and sewer rates should be determined by February, Rollins believes that key information is being withheld at the political level. “I left EPC because budget is a con- fidence motion. I’ve been concerned about matters of principle, transpar- ency, governance. … With respect to transparency, the (proposed) tax in- crease is (5.95) per cent. It does not ac- count for (water and sewer rates),” she said. In budget notes provided to the Free Press, the councillor said approving the budget before releasing the latest util- ity rates “fails to provide a clear pic- ture of how these increased rates will impact households.” Rollins is critical of the plan to raise millions in revenue each year from a 911 fee of $1 per month on all local cell- phones and landlines registered to Win- nipeg addresses. She called that “pre- tend” earnings since the city doesn’t have senior government approval to charge the levy. The budget predicts that fee will raise $3.75 million in 2025 and $7.5 mil- lion in each of the following two years. Rollins also fears a directive to have the city’s chief financial officer find more than $51 million of savings throughout this year will lead to staff shortages, which could result in a surge in overtime and workers compensation board claims. JOYANNE PURSAGA MALAK ABAS / FREE PRESS FILES Coun. Sherri Rollins: transparency lacking ● BUDGET, CONTINUED ON B2 School division curbs fundraising M ANITOBA’S largest school div- ision no longer permits door-to- door fundraising or related ac- tivities to pay for building renovations and field trip expenses in communities across central Winnipeg. The Winnipeg School Division’s policy on fundraising, which was up- dated right before the winter break, formerly permitted community mem- bers to seek financial donations to “sup- plement their school budgets.” “We still can fundraise in the school division, but it needs to be targeted, it needs to be inclusive and it needs to be for things that are outside of the pur- view of public education,” superintend- ent Matt Henderson told the Free Press. The division will allow parent advis- ory councils to raise cash to pay for student camps, but they are barred from fundraising to cover the cost of textbooks, educational excursions and other core learning expenses. The policy also prohibits prizes to re- ward students who collect large sums and campaign participation draws. “Schools, families and learners are asked to think deeply about the impli- cations, barriers and purpose for any fundraising project, and to ensure that the focus is not on the day-to-day class- room resources,” states an excerpt from the new three-page document. École Laura Secord School has his- torically held fundraisers to support teacher wish-lists, lunch programs and extracurricular program expenses for needy families, among other initiatives. Last year, the parent advisory coun- cil at the Wolseley elementary school raised upwards of $30,000. “I’m not sure how he is going to make up that difference … (Henderson) has a lot of experience in the education sys- tem. As a teacher, he knows what he’s talking about, but I don’t see a solid plan for this,” said Stephanie Wenger, chair of the council. Parents want to know how the div- ision plans to top-up school budgets to fund basic necessities they have paid for in the past, said Wenger, who has two children, the eldest of whom is in Grade 3 at Laura Secord. “We could adopt a sister school that doesn’t have as strong of a fundraising base and we could support them,” the parent said. Concerned parents want to know how the division plans to top-up school budgets MAGGIE MACINTOSH ● FUNDRAISING, CONTINUED ON B2 LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg School Division head Matt Henderson says fundraising cannot cover the cost of core education, such as textbooks and field trips. It can, however, pay for student camps. West Kildonan arena closes after building damaged WEST Kildonan Memorial Community Centre’s arena is temporarily closed due to a damaged exterior wall that officials believe was hit by a privately operated snow plow. Board president Bryan Huen said the damage at the city-owned arena, which has been operated by the community centre’s volunteers for decades, was discovered Saturday morning. “I guess some machinery accident- ally hit the wall while clearing snow,” Huen said. “That’s the only way it could have happened.” Some cinder blocks came off the low- er part of the wall, he said. The centre announced Tuesday that all hockey practices and games at the arena, located at Perth Avenue and Powers Street, are cancelled until fur- ther notice. “Obviously, I’m not happy, and every- body else that’s involved in our arena,” Huen said. “We’ll just have to do what we can.” He hopes it won’t take long to carry out the repairs necessary to reopen the building. He said the city told him a contractor is scheduled to conduct an assessment today. The arena was built in 1967. Ross Eadie, the city councillor for the area, said a damage estimate is not yet available, but he’s concerned it could be a big bill. “It took out enough of the corner that it’s not structurally sound. A struc- tural engineer said it’s too unstable to keep the arena open,” the councillor for Mynarski said. “It had to be heavy equipment. The damage was that bad.” City spokeswoman Pam McKenzie said a structural engineer carried out an assessment this week. “It has been determined that oper- ations at the arena site should be dis- continued due to concerns with the integrity of the wall where the damage occurred and the emergency exit,” Mc- Kenzie wrote in an email. “The arena site will remain closed until further notice. The daycare site is not affected and remains open.” She said the cause of the damage is “under review.” The damage occurred in the same spot where a snow plow collided with the southwest corner of the building in 2023, Eadie said. “There was some damage, and that was determined to be a plow,” Eadie said of the previous incident, which did not result in a closure of the arena. He said an insurance claim filed following that collision has not been resolved. City hall’s risk management branch is dealing with insurance-related mat- ters following the latest collision, Eadie said. Huen declined to identify the com- pany that was hired to remove snow prior to the discovery of the damage. He said he has been in discussions with the company. The centre hires a snow-removal company as needed, rather than on a contractual basis, Huen said. chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca CHRIS KITCHING JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS The damage may not look like much (inset), but engineers told the city the arena’s structure is compromised. City hall is expecting a large repair bill. ;