The City of Steinbach has approved its 2025 fee schedule, including some changes to keep up with rising costs. One of the most notable increases is the fee for residential development.
City Manager Troy Warkentin explained why this particular fee is going up.
“When there is a subdivision or variance or that kind of land use review and approval which requires the registration of a document such as a development agreement on a title, the city charges a fee to the applicant or the developer to do so because there are fees associated with it. The last time that fee was adjusted was 2017. Legal and registration fees have increased over time, and we are now proposing that fee be increased to $1,250.”
That’s a $500 increase from the current administration fee for residential development.
“It is solely just to reflect the actual costs that the city has to pay in order to proceed with that registration,” Warkentin added.
Other fees have also been adjusted, many by about 2.5 to 3 per cent, to match inflation and rising expenses.
While there won’t be any increase in fees for city services such as lottery licenses and marriage licenses, there will be some changes to admission fees at the Aquatic Centre. Fees will not change for swimming lessons, however, there will be an increase in admission for public swimming as well as Aquacise classes.
There will also be an increase in some rental fees of park facilities and soccer pitches.
Deputy Mayor Michael Zwaagstra made the motion to approve the fee schedule, noting its importance for responsible city management.
“The purpose with the fees here is to ensure the City recovers our costs,” he said. “One of the key reasons that some of the fees have increased is because simply the cost of providing some of these services has gone up. And so, we want to make sure that we are being responsible with our tax dollars and ensuring that we are operating on a cost recovery basis with our fees.”
The motion was seconded by Councillor Jac Siemens and passed by council. The new fees will take effect in January.