Hanover School Division budget increases, mill rate reduced

Hanover School Division approved the 2025-26 budget on Tuesday night noting there will be a decrease in the mill rate.

The $136.6 million budget reflects a year-over-year increase of 5.87 percent. Provincial funding increased by 2.2 percent over the previous year. The board has allocated $121.1 million for operational costs.

The board decided to decrease the mill rate from last year by three percent to 12.36 mills. What this means for a home assessed at $354,000 is that there will be no change in school taxes when the property reassessment is combined with changes to the provincial educational tax credit system. Property owners with assessments below $354,000 will see a decrease, while those with assessments above this threshold will see an increase.

“Of course, you wonder how can we do a three percent reduction when everything is going up in price and wages are going up? Certainly, part of that answer is a reassessment in the whole area to assess all the property taxes in all of Manitoba, so that plays a factor in that. So, the assessments are valued higher and so even though we have a tax increase it will actually be a reduction in the mill rate,” said finance chair Ron Falk.

Falk said the provincial education property tax credit is being done away with and instead the province has put the credit under the provincial homeowners affordability tax credit.

“So, that’s changed how the whole thing is done,” he said.

Estimated enrolment for the year is projected to increase by 132 students including funding for 12 additional teachers and 14 educational assistants.

“Those 12 teachers that we have added into there, eight of them are specifically for the 132 extra kids and the other ones are for a clinician, a psychologist, learning support teachers, and some of those added personnel that we need support the kids as well,” said Falk.

The board hopes that there won’t be more children in schools than the 132 budgeted for as the government has eliminated the enrolment change grant, which provides funding when school divisions have more new students than what they budgeted for.

Other expenditures include the purchase of six new buses, a new principal for South Oaks School in Grunthal, a psychologist, a maintenance and utility person, replacing one of the trucks in the maintenance department, and about $1 million of the budget will go towards materials and staffing of Parkhill School, which is set to open in September.