Piney keeps mill rate same for tenth straight year, angers farmer

The RM of Piney released its 2026 budget on Tuesday and it has angered one local farmer.

Piney CAO Martin Van Osch presented the plan to council and the public where he advised that the mill rate will stay at 12.09 for the tenth year in a row.

“The RM is putting the burden of taxes on predominantly the farmer. Fifty-one percent of the increase is going directly to farmers, who make up probably about five percent or less of the population,” said Terry Ewacha to council.

A report from the Manitoba Municipal and Northern Relations Property Assessment Services Branch, stated the municipality’s taxable assessment has increased by $37 million (30 percent) to $158 million (from $122 million). The report showed that 2,193 residences will see a tax increase in 2025, while 575 will see a decrease. Changes to the municipal tax assessment saw farmland taxed from $34.1 million in 2024 to $51.6 million in 2025, a 52 percent increase.

“I’m not overly optimistic. I think when you asked the question (about lowering the mill rate) to (Reeve Wayne Anderson), looking at his facial expressions, he was struggling to come up with an answer,” Ewacha told The Carillon.

Anderson said the mill rate will not be lowered, but that council and administration will be “studying the possibility” of lowering it as that was the purpose of the public hearing to hear arguments for and against the proposed budget.

He also said studies will be done to help council determine how to proceed with the mill rate. He couldn’t say what those studies might be.

Ewacha and his neighbour are currently suing the RM, not for money, but to force them to lower the mill rate as last year they and other farmers in Piney saw their assessed property values increase by more than 100 percent, and sometimes by 200 percent, according to Ewacha.

“When I posed the question to Anderson about if he thought a 100 percent increase was fair, you know, he did not reply to that. And nor did Martin when I asked him a couple of times. Well, they know it’s not fair,” he said.

According to the legal letter submitted to the RM from Ewacha’s lawyer, James A. Mercury, farmland assessments in the RM increased by 51.5 percent under the province-wide reassessment in 2025, nearly double the municipality-wide average of 30.2 percent.

“Council took no steps to moderate, phase in, or otherwise mitigate the resulting tax shock,” stated Mercury. “When assessed values increase dramatically, holding the mill rate constant does not achieve predictability, rather it results in substantial tax increases. Council’s decision to maintain the mill rate in the face of unprecedented assessment increases was, in effect, an exercise of discretion to substantially increase taxes.”

The letter further states that the RM’s total revenue increased from about $2.9 million in 2024 to about $3.8 million in 2025, an increase of approximately 30 percent in a single year. Council gave no explanation as to why there was such an increase and why it couldn’t be phased in, stated the letter. Ewacha said the RM has yet to respond to his lawyer.

Ewacha’s family has been farming in the Middlebro area for more than 100 years when his grandfather immigrated to Manitoba from Austria. He said other farmers are in support of his legal actions.

“You know, they’re behind us. And certainly, a couple even said that they’d back us financially, which we don’t need that, we’re quite okay. And we kind of want to keep the focus on our area, like our little pocket of land in Middleboro,” said Ewacha.

This year, one of the capital expenditures for the RM is the purchase of a new tanker truck to haul water when fighting wildland fires. Ewacha was upset to find out that $630,000 would be spent on the tanker as last year about $700,000 was spent on a new fire engine. He feels cost analysis should have been done to get a cheaper option.

“You know, I think they’re just giddy,” he said. “They want to spend the money, the extra million dollars… It’s spending out of control…And I don’t think they’re going to back away on the mill rate based on that. They’ve got a taste for that money.”

Van Osch said a 50/50 cost share for the tanker will be done with the province.

Piney is an underpopulated RM for its size (2,433 square kilometres)with 1,843 people according to the last census in 2021. It is largely Crown land, forests, and provincial parks, about 75 percent, which is non-taxable by the municpality. There are about 70 to 85 farms in the region with agriculture as the primary industry along with logging.

“It’s a very challenging area to farm in first off, but now all of a sudden you’ve got all the other costs to bear with freight (as diesel is more expensive) and not to mention fertilizer costs (which have doubled) and all the other (expenses). So, they’re just adding another nail in the coffin, to put it mildly,” said Ewacha.

“Everybody that we’ve spoken to, especially the farmers, are really upset,” he added later.

Should council not make changes to the budget, Anderson said it will be approved on April 28.