It seems Mayor Brian Bowman thinks Winnipeggers aren’t quite as observant as Little Red Riding Hood. The fairy tale character initially mistook a wolf in a bonnet for her grandmother, but eventually she figured it out. Mayor Bowman is running up a host of levies and fees and hoping Winnipeggers won’t recognize them as tax hikes.

Of course, it would be rather awkward if Winnipeggers did conclude their taxes are indeed going up, because during the election campaign Mayor Bowman committed to limit “any property tax increases … to the rate of inflation.”

The proposed city budget projects a property tax increase of 2.33 per cent and plans to put most of the new money into infrastructure such as roads. Statistics Canada reports Manitoba’s current inflation rate at 2.1 per cent. Sure, fractions of a percentage point mean millions of dollars in the context of a city budget, but Mayor Bowman at least kind of kept his promise on this point.

But that’s not nearly the end of the story.

Frontage fees are going up from $4.35 to $5.45 per foot. That’s an increase of more than 20 per cent. It means Winnipeggers with a front yard that’s 50 feet wide are going to have to send City Hall an extra $55.

Mayor Bowman insists frontages fees are nothing like property taxes.

But let’s take a closer look. Property taxes are based on property values and the money is used for city spending. Frontage fees are based on a property’s width and used for city spending. Mayor Bowman can dress this up however he likes, but increased frontage fees are just another tax hike.

Then there are water rates. The water bill for a family of four is projected to go up by about $92 or 9 per cent. Rates are projected to increase about the same amount for each of the next two years as well. The city says it needs to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade water treatment facilities.

But, again, a closer look tells a different story. The city is planning to take about $33 million from the water budget and transfer it into general revenues. Again, Mayor Bowman can try to change the label, but increasing water fees to pay for general city spending is just another tax hike.

Mayor Bowman says the tax increases are necessary because the city has a lot of expenses and not enough revenues.

So what’s going on with revenues? Property tax revenues are up. Fees and levies are up. Grants from other governments (who also take money from taxpayers) are up. In fact, overall revenues are up nearly $60 million at city hall so it’s hard to believe income is the problem.

It gets worse. The Winnipeg’s debt is projected to be nearly $1.5 billion this year. Within five years Winnipeg’s debt is projected to be well over $2 billion. So not only are the city’s revenues up, it’s also borrowing huge amounts.

With both revenue sources and debt levels going up, it’s hard to believe a lack of cash is the problem.

If only there were some other way.

There is. Mayor Bowman needs to pull out his campaign platform. There’s another key promise inside.

“As a city we have a duty to look at how we’re spending citizens’ money, there are many things we need to fix, but we need to look inwards for savings instead of simply asking taxpayers for more or sinking the city deeper into debt,” wrote Mayor Bowman in is platform.

And yet expenses are up nearly $60 million.

Taxpayers won’t be fooled by disguised tax hikes. Regardless of the labels, taxpayers are being forced to find room in their family budgets to give more to City Hall. It’s time for City Hall to find room in its budget to give taxpayers a break.