Winnipeg city council passes 2026 budget

Winnipeg city councillors have passed the 2026 budget with some amendments. Taylor Brock explains.

Winnipeg city council has passed its operating budget for 2026.

The budget vote passed 12-4 Wednesday afternoon, with Councillors Russ Wyatt, John Orlikow, Sherri Rollins and Emma Durand-Wood voting against.

“I would just say we’re tackling big things, big expensive things, but we’re doing it for the future of the city, to build the kind of city that we know needs to be built,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said prior to the vote.

The budget includes a $3.8 billion investment in infrastructure over six years, including $1.1 billion for local road renewal, $239 million for new buses to modernize the Winnipeg Transit fleet and promises the completion of the North End Sewage Treatment Plant.

This year’s budget includes a 3.5 per cent property tax increase for 2026 and a 2.8 per cent increase to water and sewer rates.

Three amendments were approved during Wednesday’s meeting, including the hiring of 20 full-time equivalent firefighters, double the initial proposal. Other amendments approved included extending the needle cleanup program to six additional city parks and adding a new transit planner position to expedite improvements to the city’s new transit system.