Capital spending up 75% in draft 2026 Winnipeg budget

The City of Winnipeg plans to significantly ramp up borrowing and spending on capital projects next year, with hundreds of millions more to fund major infrastructure projects like upgrades to the North End Water Pollution Control Centre and purchases of more buses.

The city’s capital budget grew from $677 million in 2025 to $1.19 billion in its draft 2026 budget, released Friday — a 76 per cent increase. 

Most of that increase is due to the city’s commitment to fund one-third of the estimated $1.5 billion needed to build a nutrient removal facility, the third and final phase of the sewage treatment plant project. The 2026 budget will set aside $547 million for the project, to be financed through debt. 

The city must complete the upgrades because the North End plant is running out of capacity.

Spending on Winnipeg Transit infrastructure more than doubles, from $75 million to $137 million. Most of that is dedicated toward purchasing new buses — $101 million compared to $42 million in 2025. 

The city also plans to spend $21 million to begin work on rehabilitating the twin overpasses that take Lagimodiere Boulevard over Concordia Avenue, which is expected to cost $39 million in total.

In an effort to reduce costs related to overtime and Workers Compensation Board claims related the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, the city plans to create a "resource pool" of firefighters who will be available to fill absences, starting with 10 full-time employees next year and rising to 40 by 2029.

The city also plans to add 11 new paramedic positions. The total Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service budget rises to $262 million, up $8 million from $254 million in 2025.

Winnipeg homeowners will see an overall 3.5 per cent property tax increase next year that the city says is needed to fund road renewals and safety improvements, as well as the general operating budget, which is up 5.2 per cent to $1.49 billion. It's a smaller hike than last year’s 5.95 per cent jump.

The property tax increase means the owner of a home assessed at $371,000 will pay $75 more this year. That's expected to rise approximately $26 million more per year for the city. 

Last year's budget hit Winnipeggers with the largest property tax increase since 1990, a 5.95 per cent hike, up from 3.5 per cent annual increases in recent years. City officials said the jump was needed to cover rising costs for snow clearing, a shortfall in transit fare revenue and escalating workers compensation claims related to fire-paramedic injuries.

It also included a proposed pilot project that would test whether the city could save any money by raising the threshold for the first residential street plow from 10 centimetres of snow to 15 centimetres — an idea that was abandoned a month later after getting an icy reception from the public.

In its second-quarter financial update in September, the city forecast it would finish this fiscal year with a $17.7-million deficit, a $1.2-million improvement from the first quarter.

The main drivers of the deficit include lower-than-expected planning, property and development revenues, higher overtime and workers compensation costs in the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, a drop in transfers from municipal accommodations (the department that manages the city's properties) and unachieved savings targets in the Winnipeg Police Service.