Budget day 1: Saskatoon Police get their ask; City changes tax increases

Although the new Saskatoon central library stole the show on Monday night, there was still a lot that went on in council chambers on day 1 of the multi-year budget deliberations.

Saskatoon Police will be welcoming new members, Saskatoon Fire received more money than they originally asked for, and a new central library was given the green light, but with a smaller budget.

Monday began with City Council hearing changes to proposed tax increases.

The original ask of 3.23 per cent in 2020, and 3.54 per cent in 2021 was reduced to 3.14 per cent and 3.52 percent, respectively.

This was due to adjusted growth rates for the city, linked to inflation.

Instead of an approximate increase of $60.95 yearly per average household, the city shaved off $1.66, amounting to a dollar amount of $59.29 in 2020, or a bump of $4.94 per month.

In 2021, because the 2020 rate was reduced, the decrease in 0.02 per cent still meant a hike in proposed property taxes from the preliminary budget.

Instead of paying an average of $66.83 yearly in 2021, residents would pay $68.55, or an extra $5.71 per month.

Those numbers still could change, as councillors will have a chance next year to deliberate the decisions made in this year’s multi-year budget.

Saskatoon Police gets go-ahead for new officers

Saskatoon Police’s budget was unanimously passed Monday, opening the door for eight new officers into the city in 2020.

Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark said with council approving their budget unanimously, it shows that they made a compelling case to council.

“Through the course of this year (Saskatoon Police) faced some unprecedented challenges to do with violence, addictions, overdoses in the community and then also the impacts of the opening of the supervised consumption site,” he said.

In late October, the police service stressed the need for eight new officers for the new Crime Mobilization Unit (CMU).

The unit will be patrolling front lines of the Safe Consumption Site and area.

If the CMU ask wasn’t passed by council, Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper said officers’ “service delivery would be downgraded.”

He added their approach would be reactive, rather than proactive.

In total over the two-year budget, an addition of 15 new officers will be coming to the police service.

In the preliminary budget, 2020 included requests for three new constables with two new full-time civilian positions.

An additional corporate executive director position will be created in 2020.

Overall expenditures for police will be at $110.4 million, with the eight additional officers accounting to $828,200 of that figure.

In 2021, a proposed police expenditure will be set at just under $114.78 million. Additionally, Police requested four new patrol constable positions and two civilian positions.

Also in 2021, a new pilot community safety officer program is expected to launch. Cooper said they will be looking for a different name for the program that will be a separate way to approach crime in the city.

Civilians would be employed to enforce bylaws, but Cooper said they plan to steer away from letting the new officers deal with traffic enforcement, which is what police forces in Prince Albert and North Battleford do.

Coun. Randy Donauer said he wants to move forward with a plan for the city in the new year dedicated to cleaning up Saskatoon’s graffiti.

Saskatoon Fire budget gets thumbs up from council

Council unanimously passed the budget ask from the Saskatoon Fire Department.

Additionally, council unanimously approved a $120,000 spending increase to help with the backlog of property maintenance complaints.

That will amount to 1.5 full-time employee positions for the department.

An Administrative Coordinator and a Service Writer position were also approved as full-time positions for 2020. None were requested for 2021.

The Fire Department’s budget increase includes $310,000 for uniform upkeep in 2020.

In 2021, their uniform budget will increase to $270,000.