It’s been a frustrating time for rural landowners in the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa ever since amalgamation took place in 2015, when the Rural Municipality of Oakland and the Village of Wawanesa became one municipality.

 With the proposal of two new levies to be added to the 2020 taxes, that frustration is mounting.

Currently the financial support for the operating and maintenance of recreation facilities in the municipality (arena/curling rink, swimming pool, rec centres, campground, playgrounds, baseball diamonds, etc) have been funded through a granting system by the municipality. 

As council moves toward the mandated harmonized mil rate, set by the Province, they are proposing two special services levies to be tacked on to this year’s taxpayers: the recreation facilities support levy and waste disposal levy.  The current differential mil rate is coming to an end, and the new mil rate is to be in place by 2022.

Council feels they are doing their best to transition to the new mil rate, knowing that deadline is coming up quickly.  However, rural landowners are feeling the template for taxation is unfair where they feel they’re carrying the burden of taxes for the entire municipality.  The proposal for these 2 new levies have added a new level of frustration.

This week Tuesday, Council members and municipal residents participated in a Municipal Board Hearing in Wawanesa where Municipal Board members heard three hours of presentations from both urban and rural residents, as well as from council members.

Rural landowner, Coenraad Fourie, was one of the presenters at Tuesday evenings hearing.  Fourie says the strong showing of people in opposition reflects the frustration from rural residents of feeling they’re not being heard or fairly represented by their councilors.

“These two levies are just mere symptoms of a bigger problem, of a purposeful shift of taxation from the town to rural,” explains Fourie.  “No matter what they do, they cannot argue the fact that since amalgamation people in town are paying less and less taxes.  That’s a trend that continues, and visa-versa people in rural are paying more and more taxes.  No matter how they postulate it or formulate it to make it seem fair, the two levies that we heard about here tonight, both shift taxes from the town to rural and not the other way around.”

Fourie says his farming operation is located in the middle of the municipality and he opts to use the facilities in Souris or Brandon – not in the town of Wawanesa.  As the town is situated at the far southeastern edge of the municipality, many rural residents feel the town’s rec facilities are simply too far away and should not be their responsibility for maintaining the service.

Earlier this spring a petition had been signed by 624 people who were wanting to see the dissolve of the current council as they cannot seem to decide on an amicable solution.  Fourie says they’re hoping there will be a final solution from the Municipal Board as a result from Tuesday’s hearing.

“Maybe this municipality needs to become a local municipality, an LUD,” he says.  “We’re hoping for a favorable decision from the Board for a start.  That would hopefully set the tone that this trend cannot be tolerated, this constant shifting of the tax burden to rural, and hopefully it paves the way for this council or a new council, to work with rural residents and rural councillors to find a more fair solution if we still remain a single municipality.”

Fourie says there are other options to fund these services, such as implementing a user-based fee for both recreation facilities and the waste disposal sites.

Recreation services are an important facet of our communities, in some ways it’s the very backbone of our communities; for our children and families and for bringing others into our communities through competitive events like hockey and curling, or instructional services from other areas as in swimming lessons. 

It's getting more and more difficult to fund these facilities, as important as they are, says Fourie.

He’s hoping the Board will come back with a solution that is fair for the entire municipality.

“I sincerely hope that the Board comes forward with something that this council will consider, that would present something that’s fair for everybody and that can maybe set the tone, and maybe set the path for a more equitable way for the rural and the town to work together.”