The provincial government has a golden opportunity to support non-profit organizations and the City of Winnipeg at the same time — purchase city-owned properties that are now up for sale for as little as $1.
Done right, this could be a win-win proposition.
By buying the buildings and land, the Kinew government could kill two birds with one stone: make dozens of child-care centres, sports organizations and other agencies that provide important services to the community more sustainable, while helping a cash-strapped city balance its books.
A recent City of Winnipeg report calls for council to give city staff the authority to negotiate the sale of the 12 civic buildings currently occupied by non-profits. Those include a number of child-care centres that may want to buy the buildings and land they sit on. However, some may not be able to afford it.
Considering many of the non-profits, including child centres, fall under provincial jurisdiction, it would only make sense that the province get involved to help those agencies purchase their properties, or even buy them and allow the tenants to use them for free.
Some child centres that use city-owned buildings for free or below-market rent (and often pay the operating costs, such as utility bills) are interested in buying those properties to ensure long-term stability. If the city sells the buildings to a new owner, some child-care facilities could be in jeopardy. They may have to move or could possibly get shut down altogether. That would be disastrous for many families.
As it is, there is already a massive shortage of child-care spaces in Winnipeg (and elsewhere), as there has been for decades. It’s great that we have $10-a-day child care but if daycare centres don’t have buildings to house their operations, the low fee becomes moot.
It’s the same for many other non-profits, such as sport organizations like football or soccer clubs or groups that provide vital social services to their communities.
The city owns dozens of buildings that house many of those non-profits. They typically use them for free or pay below market rent. Some pay utilities, some don’t. There are a myriad of arrangements that exist between the city and non-profits.
For city hall, though, they’ve become a huge financial burden. The city has to maintain the buildings and pay for costly capital upgrades. The city also doesn’t get property tax revenue from them because they’re city owned.
It’s a significant financial liability for city hall, which doesn’t have the tax base to pay for them. Nor is it the city’s role to subsidize some of those agencies, especially child-care centres, which fall squarely under provincial jurisdiction.
There are a number of options the city is offering. Some agencies could purchase their buildings for as little as $1, but the city would still own the land.
The building and land could be purchased at market value and the agency would own it outright. Or the property could be purchased at below market value with conditions attached, including reverting back to city ownership under certain circumstances.
Just to be clear, this does not include community centres, which are run by volunteer board members and financed in part by city grants. Those are not up for sale.
For many child-care centres and other agencies, there are a lot of risks and unknown factors when deciding whether to take the city up on its offer. What would upkeep and future capital upgrades cost? What would the property tax bill be? Are there other unknown costs that could hamstring a non-profit in the future? Can they afford to take those risks?
This is why the province should get involved.
The provincial government needs to find new and creative ways of supporting these agencies and this is one way of doing it. And it shouldn’t be done with grant applications, which take months and years to create, administer and process. The province should get directly involved and either buy these properties up or help the organizations purchase them.
The province also has to find ways of providing the City of Winnipeg with a new financial deal. The status quo of trying to pay for everything the city does through property taxes, which don’t grow as the economy does, is obsolete and unsustainable. There are preliminary talks going on behind the scenes to look at that, which may include some type of growth-tax revenue for the city, like sharing a portion of income and/or sales tax revenue.
There are also other ways the province can better support the city financially and this is one of them — help city hall unload properties it can no longer afford while supporting non-profits at the same time.
It would be a win-win on so many different fronts.
tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
Tom Brodbeck
Columnist
Tom Brodbeck is a columnist with the Free Press and has over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom.
Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press’s editing team reviews Tom’s columns before they are posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press’s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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