Beautiful Plains eyes property tax hike

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This article was published 10/03/2025 (242 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Education property taxes in the Beautiful Plains School Division are poised to increase by an average of 11.7 per cent.

The tax increase will vary for each taxpayer depending on the type of property they own and how much their assessed property value increased.

In Beautiful Plains, residential assessed values increased by 8.6 per cent, farm properties increased by 20.2 per cent and commercial and other properties increased by 15.1 per cent, BPSD secretary treasurer Shannon Bayes stated.

“For a residential property owner, school taxes would increase by $29 for every $100,000 of assessed value,” she stated. “Farm property owners would see a $48 increase per $100,000, while commercial property owners would pay an additional $85 per $100,000 of assessed value.”

The division proposed a 6.7 per cent budget hike for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The proposed budget, which represents a $1.9 million increase over the current year, is primarily driven by rising salaries, benefits, and building maintenance costs.

Out of the $30,748,600 in expenditures proposed for the 2025-26 year, the division will pay $23,628,000 as salaries to employees. Bayes stated salaries and benefits for staff account for approximately 84 per cent of the budget increase, totalling $1.6 million. The remaining $330,000 will go to building maintenance and used to address growth pressures within the division.

Despite a reduction in the division’s mill rate from 10.62 to 10.37 mills — a 2.35 per cent decrease — property taxes are expected to rise due to a significant increase in assessed property values.

Another key factor behind the proposed tax hike is the level of provincial funding, Bayes stated. While the province increased its funding for Beautiful Plains by 2.7 per cent, “this is significantly lower than the 8.4 per cent increase received last year. Provincial support now accounts for 57.5 per cent of the division’s revenue, down from 58.9 per cent in the current fiscal year.”

She explained the provincial increase does not fully cover the rising costs of salaries or the additional staff required to accommodate the growing student population.

The school division, she added, has made its proposed budget available on its website for public review and is welcoming feedback from residents. The budget is scheduled for approval at a special board meeting on March 11, 2025.

As the division continues to expand, Bayes emphasized the importance of balancing necessary expenditures with available funding while ensuring the sustainability of school programs and services.

The Brandon School Division board expressed similar concerns as that of Beautiful Plains when it came to the provincial share of schools funding.

Following the Manitoba government’s four per cent increase in operating funding for the 2025-26 school year, the BSD faced a shortfall of $6,699,768, excluding budget requests, and approved a 6.78 per cent property tax increase during recent budget deliberations that extended for nearly six hours.

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