Too little tax transparency at city hall

By now, most Brandon home and/or business owners have received their 2026 property tax bills. For many of us, the opening of the envelope and first cautious glance at the size of the payment has become a painful, traumatic and confusing experience.

It’s painful for me because the property taxes for my home have increased by 22.5 per cent in the past two years. That’s after the education tax credit, and despite the fact I have done nothing during that time frame to increase the value of the property. I suspect the situation is similar for many of you.

It’s traumatic because very few Brandonites, certainly not those who are living on fixed incomes, have experienced a similar-sized increase in their income over the past two years. That means that the higher taxes are taking a greater portion of the funds property owners rely on to feed their families, heat their homes and pay for their prescription drugs.

I have no doubt that some in our community feel they can no longer afford to remain in their homes, yet they can’t afford rental accommodation either. They are being squeezed financially by city hall — by both higher property taxes and skyrocketing water rates — and that is forcing them to make tough spending choices regarding which bills they pay, what they eat and whether they take their medicine.

The bills are confusing because there is very little information provided to taxpayers that would help ordinary Brandonites understand why their taxes have risen, what those higher taxes will be used for, and how much higher their respective bills will climb in the next few years.

The “Property Taxation” paper that accompanied tax bills tells readers how much the city plans to spend on various categories this year and how much revenue it expects to take in. The document falls far too short, however, of providing clarity as to what city hall specifically plans to do with all the tax money they will collect, let alone whether we are getting our money’s worth for all those taxes.

The city website is even less helpful. The “Budget and Finance” area has a link to the city’s 2026 “Draft Financial Plan,” but there is no indication if this is the document that was prepared by city administration in late last year or if it is the plan that was passed by city council as Budget 2026. The fact that the revenue and expense numbers in the financial plan document do not match the revenue and expense numbers in the “Property Taxation” document suggests the financial plan document on the website is not the approved 2026 budget.

Further adding to the confusion is the fact that the website has a section for the 2025 budget, but not the 2026 budget. There is a document entitled “2025 Financial Plan Public Hearing Presentation” on the website, but no such document for 2026.

Given that reality, it is all but impossible for Brandonites to have a clear, accurate understanding of this year’s city budget. The situation is a mess, falling far short of the transparency we should expect from city hall.

To make matters even worse, I’m not convinced that the majority of the people currently sitting at the city council table possess the financial literacy to comprehend the city budget information in the manner in which it is presented, let alone identify the information that should be provided as part of the budget process but isn’t there.

I’ve worked on several provincial budgets. I know the kind of detail and information that should be provided to the public and elected officials as part of the budget process. As I read the city’s draft financial plan, however, I became increasingly concerned about the lack of detail regarding many of the proposed expenses and revenue items. I had many questions, but the answers could not be found within the financial plan document.

As a result, taxpayers are largely in the dark regarding the city’s 2026 budget, yet expected to open their cheque books to fund it.

On one hand, you could say this is just another symptom of the sloppy fiscal management we have seen at city hall over the years. From another perspective, however, it could be argued that the lack of budget information is simply another part of the growing lack of transparency, which far too often results in Brandonites being kept in the dark regarding matters that impact them.

An important issue that arose during the 2022 local election campaign was city council’s growing tendency to hold “in camera” meetings, even when such secrecy may have been prohibited by provincial law. At the time, several incumbent councillors were unapologetic for conducting council business that way, and all but promised to continue doing so. Now we see a budget process, in an election year, that keeps vital information out of the hands of taxpayers.

This isn’t an election issue yet, but it should be. In Brandon’s system of local democracy, citizens play a critical oversight role that they cannot carry out without being given the information they are entitled to. That may make life easier for the mayor and councillors, but it creates the risk of bad decisions that impact all of us.

That has to change, starting with a commitment by candidates to be more transparent with Brandonites and followed up with tangible action toward achieving that goal. If that doesn’t happen, the pain, trauma and confusion to will only continue.