Brandon, MB – Brandon property owners can see an approximation of their proposed 2018 municipal taxes and how their tax dollar will be used to provide programs and services to the community via an interactive tax calculator tool now available on Brandon.ca. The calculator, available at http://www.brandon.ca/budget/property-tax-estimator, provides an estimate of a property's gross municipal taxes, based upon the Council-approved 2018 City of Brandon mill rate and 2018 provincial property assessment values. Education taxes levied by the Brandon School Division and provincial education levies are NOT included in this calculation. Along with the ability to see year-over-year comparative municipal tax levels, citizens can also use the tax calculator to view how much of their municipal taxes are spent on each service area provided annually by the City of Brandon, and further delve into the cost of specific programs and services. For example, property owners can see how much of their municipal taxes are used to specifically fund services such as sanitation collection, policing, cemetery maintenance, or tourism initiatives. “The City of Brandon strives to be open, transparent and accessible in its budgeting process and we invite all citizens to take advantage of this interactive tool,” notes Brandon City Manager/CAO Rod Sage. “It is our belief that by engaging our citizens in the fiscal activities of their local government, it will lead to a better understanding of how we fund and deliver the services that are important to them, and eventually lead to greater participation by our public in our budget development process.” Sage adds that in future years, the City of Brandon plans to enhance the online tax calculator’s interactive features so that residents will be able to input their preferred budget enhancements or reductions and then see a visual representation of the resulting municipal tax implications. Following City Council approval of the 2018 Municipal Tax Levy Bylaw, property tax bills will be mailed out in mid-May, with a payment deadline at the end of June 2018. A discount of 0.5% is applied to all 2018 property tax pre-payments received on or before May 31st, 2018. In addition to the traditional methods of one-time payment, annual taxes may also be paid monthly by automatic bank withdrawal using the City of Brandon’s Tax Installment Plan (TIP).  Discounts and penalties do not apply when enrolled in the TIP program.  The application deadline for enrollment in this year’s TIP program is June 15th, 2018.

Submitted Brandon Firefighter / Paramedics have had a long time tradition of helping people in need and over the years it has become a natural extension of our duties as Firefighters. In maintaining this long time tradition we founded the Brandon Firefighters Charity Fund in 1994. The Brandon Firefighters Charity Fund is a registered charity whose sole purpose is to provide the needed support to those organizations, families and individuals within Brandon and Westman area that require financial assistance. 2017 saw the Brandon Firefighters Charity Fund distribute nearly $45,000.00 to various groups. These funds raised by the Brandon Firefighters Charity Fund are attributed to a small dedicated group of volunteers. The Brandon Firefighter / Paramedics and E911 Dispatchers have made it a priority to extend their duties by volunteering their personal time and raising funds that support our community. Today Feb 1, 2018 your Brandon Firefighter/ Paramedics, E911 Dispatchers along with the Vincent Massey Youth Revolution Group made a financial donation to the Brandon Hospital for some needed equipment in the NICU.

Brandon Police Service Media Release  At approximately 1:20 a.m., Police received a report of a stolen vehicle from the 700 block of 7th Street. The vehicle was parked on the street and left running to warm up. At approximately 1:50 a.m., Officers located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop however, the vehicle refused to pull over and a pursuit began. The pursuit travelled several blocks and reached a top speed of 65km/h. The suspect finally stopped in the 400 Block of 13th Street after ramming a Police vehicle. The male suspect attempted to flee on foot but was apprehended after a failed attempt to scale a fence.  The suspect showed signs of impairment and was transported to the Police Service where breath samples obtained were in excess of the legal limit. The 22-year-old Brandon man was arrested for Impaired Driving, Drive Over 80 mg%, Theft of Motor Vehicle, Flight From Police, Resist Arrest and Assault Police Officer. The male was also found to have three outstanding Warrants of Arrest for Mischief to Property, Assault and Breach of Probation. The male sustained a minor injury during his attempt to run from Police. He was treated at the hospital and when cleared medically, lodged at the Brandon Correctional Center and is scheduled to appear in Court on Thursday. No Officers were injured during this incident.

BRANDON – Brandon University will host a community conversation next week to explore the ongoing development of plans and options for the downtown site with all members of the public. Following targeted consultations over the past few months, an earlier round of campus conversations this year, as well as open feedback online, several possible opportunities have been identified, and will be expanded on at these new sessions. This public community conversation is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 6, and will be held from 5–6:30 p.m. in the Main Foyer of Brandon City Hall. This 90-minute session will be led by the external expert team that has been guiding pre-development work on the downtown, will expand on options that have been advanced so far, and will solicit further high-level feedback from members of the public. Those who are unable to attend will be able to view information from the session posted to BrandonU.ca/Downtown where they will also be able to contribute their thoughts and feedback. Brandon University’s downtown development will sit on a large parcel of land that totals nearly 70,000 square feet. This amount of space downtown opens up new opportunities to advance the University’s priorities as stated in the BU Academic Plan as well as the themes that have emerged from the new BU Campus Master Plan. It will be one of the most significant developments for the University and City in decades. Most of the development will be devoted to new residential space, with both new-concept student residences as well as seniors’ housing being considered. Along with the residential component, the future downtown initiative will include academic and learning spaces, plus a service, retail and commercial component. The University is committed to creating a mixed-use development that will add value to the existing neighbourhood, bringing new amenities and vitality to the downtown core. A full pre-development report is expected by the spring.

The Keystone Centre has a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning (Friday, February 2, 2018) to announce the new main arena naming rights sponsor for the Keystone Centre.  The press conference has been slated for 10:30 am.   The Keystone Centre had earlier, in June of 2017, released a “Request for Expression of Interest” as it related to the naming rights sponsorship for the Keystone Centre Main Arena. Interested parties were asked to submit their letter of interest by Monday July 31st.  The building annually hosts the Brandon Wheat Kings, MB Ag Days, Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, and the Canadian National Arabian & Half-Arabian Horse Championships.