Saskatoon city council has started hacking away at the looming property tax increases, but residents will find other fees for city services jumping.
Council began the methodical process Wednesday of sifting through a list of 108 options to reduce tax hikes for next year and 2027. By 5 p.m., council had dropped the tax increases to 6.43 per cent for next year and 5.75 per cent for 2027.
Coun. Robert Pearce said he thought the process was working well through two days.
“I don’t want to say I want to see a specific number,” Pearce told reporters of the reduced increases. “I will say at the end of this I want to be satisfied that we did everything we could to bring [tax increases] down as low as we could.”
Those numbers have dropped from 7.43 per cent and 5.95 per cent, respectively, at the start of budget talks. The lower numbers translate to respective annual increases of $151.92 and $144.60 for the next two years for a median assessed home worth $394,000.
Council fell short of reaching the halfway mark on the options, with most still remaining to be discussed on Thursday, the final scheduled day of civic budget talk.
More potentially contentious options lie ahead, such as reducing bus service and possibly closing George Ward Pool.
Council passed most of the proposed measures to either reduce spending or increase revenue. Some of the options will save as little as $7,000 [to reduce the mailed tax reminder letters from three times to twice a year]. Others represent much more substantial savings.
Only seven of the 46 options for cuts considered so far were defeated outright, although several were altered.
The defeated measures included a proposal to close the downtown public washrooms under the Broadway Bridge outside of events to save $40,000. Council rejected that one unanimously, with Mayor Cynthia Block citing “human dignity” as her reason for opposition.
Among some of the notable increases approved is a $5 jump to the entrance fee for the landfill; it will increase to $20 from $15. The fees for weight at the landfill will also rise to $108 per tonne next year and $112/tonne in 2027.
That will make Saskatoon’s landfill entrance fee higher than the two other landfills in the region, but loads of less than 150 kilograms will remain exempt from additional fees in Saskatoon.
Council opted not to eliminate the exemption. The nearby landfills lack such an exemption, council heard. But the fee increase alone is expected to raise $345,900 starting next year.
Some parking tickets will also jump by $10 to raise an extra $500,000. Most tickets now cost $50.
Sewer inspections and clearing blocked pipes, which are services the city now offers on a limited basis for free, will cost $75 per visit next year.
Print media also took a beating in the budget process. In addition to the reduction in tax reminder letters, council opted to reduce advertising in the StarPhoenix newspaper and in the phonebook.
A $13,500 cost for the annual pancake breakfast fundraiser at city hall survived the budget scrutiny when no councillor would ask for a vote on the measure.
Art of persuasion
Earlier Wednesday, a Saskatoon city councillor expressed his desire for the provincial government to provide more money to fund operations of the Remai Modern art gallery.
Aileen Burns, the gallery’s co-executive director and CEO, said the gallery receives about $600,000 a year from the province. Regina’s MacKenzie Art Gallery receives “considerably more,” she said.
“It’s regrettable,” Coun. Randy Donauer said of the disparity during budget talks Wednesday.
Burns said provincial politicians praised the art gallery, which opened in 2017, after a recent event. She said Premier Scott Moe called the venue a jewel of the province and a jewel of the nation.
“Jewels cost money,” Donauer replied. He suggested now might be a good time for gallery officials to lobby the province for more financial support.
Council unanimously approved the Remai Modern budget, including grants of $6.6 million next year and $6.7 million in 2027 — an unusually high amount for a city the size of Saskatoon.
By comparison, the City of Regina provided a grant of $308,000 for the MacKenzie Art Gallery this year.
The MacKenzie cost $5.8 million to run in the fiscal year that ended in March; a total of $1.7 million in operating and programming grants is listed in its annual report. However, the report fails to detail where the grants come from.
Remai Modern budgeted for $12.7 million in operating costs this year. That is expected to rise to $13.2 million next year and $14 million in 2027.
TCU Place CEO Tammy Sweeney told council the downtown event venue and convention centre is having a better year than expected. Its projected deficit of $538,000 has shrunk to about $100,000.
TCU Place expects to break even for the next two years, but the facility wants an increase in civic funding from $500,000 a year to $600,000 a year in 2027.
Mayor Cynthia Block called the turnaround “very impressive.”
Council also approved the budget for SaskTel Centre, which is expecting a net surplus of $964,000 next year.
SaskTel Centre CEO John Howden said a big event for next summer is expected to be announced next week.
Overall, council approved grants of $10.2 million next year and $10.6 million in 2027 for the three venues that are operated by council-appointed boards..
