A Manitoba cottage community said residents may experience sticker shock when they receive their new school tax bills.
Victoria Beach residents will see an average increase in their school taxes of nearly 25 per cent for the Lord Selkirk School Division this year. It comes as the province has removed the educational rebate from seasonal properties that was in place until 2025.
“If you’re looking at a seasonal cottage assessed at $377,000, for example, for Lord Selkirk School Division, they’ll be paying about $2,145 for school tax,” said Penny McMorris, Mayor of the RM of Victoria Beach. “That’s an increase of 23.87 per cent from last year on one cottage.”
Many Victoria Beach properties are seasonal residences, McMorris said, and she noted that the assessed value of the properties has also gone up by 34 per cent, which has driven the tax increase.
“The province did let us know last year that they were going to be removing that school tax credit on secondary properties,” McMorris said. “So, it’s not a complete surprise, but the amount is a surprise.”
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba has criticized the NDP for removing the education rebate on non-primary homes.
“This massive hike targets hardworking Manitobans who have built and maintained family cottages for generations and pushes the dream of cottage ownership out of reach for many Manitobans,” interim leader Wayne Ewasko said in a news release.
McMorris said the Association of Manitoba Municipalities is expected to raise the issue at its spring conference later this month.
While she said the hike is shocking, it is important that education is funded.
“This is a huge hike, and it deserves to be explained, but you cannot say that education is not important. It absolutely is,” she said.
In a statement, Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said there are several measures in place to help homeowners and school divisions, including an extra $100 for the Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit and a 3.4 per cent increase in operating support in the provincial budget.
“We will continue to work with school divisions to ensure they are meeting the needs of their communities,” Schmidt said.
