Council passes high school land levy, adding about $2,000 to home prices

A high school land levy, which could add around $2,000 to the sale of all new single-family homes in Saskatoon, was passed unanimously by city council on Wednesday, with some caveats.

The levy, proposed by administration, is intended to help the city pay for nine additional acres of land needed for two new high schools and a leisure centre in the Holmwood area, next to Brighton.

The provincial government agreed to pay half of the $7.506 million for the additional land, leaving the City of Saskatoon to come up with the balance.

Mayor Charlie Clark said there was simply no other option at this point to come up with the money needed for the additional land.

The levy will be charged starting in January.

Nicole Burgess, CEO of the Saskatoon & Region Home Builders’ Association, questioned whether the new levy was legal, and asked why the entire cost of the city’s land purchase should fall only on those who buy new homes.

Legislative changes the provincial government made in 2018-19 passed the cost of purchasing new land for schools on to cities, but Burgess said more could have been done between Saskatoon administration and home builders to prepare and to push back against the provincial change.

“We only wish this type of meeting could have taken place months, if not years, ago,” she said.

“This, we feel, was a missed opportunity, and this lack of co-ordination has placed us in the very difficult situation we have found ourselves in today.”

The exact amount of the levy hasn’t yet been determined, but it will be based on the size of the land on which the new home sits. Burgess estimated that it would be around $2,000.

City solicitor Cindy Yelland spoke to the legality of the new levy, explaining that schools are used as community hubs, and that there are agreements with both the Catholic and Public school divisions allowing the buildings to be used as such outside of school hours.

“From our perspective, it is justified under the Planning and Development Act, because they really are being used for community and recreation purposes,” she said.

Lynne Lacroix, the city’s general manager of community services, told council that time was of the essence, and said construction on the new high schools and leisure centre would likely begin this fall.

She added that the initial estimate of the number of students that would attend the Holmwood high school was around 2,200, but that number has now increased to 3,600 with the potential to accommodate as many as 4,000 students. The land requirements have increased as well.

“The parcel size has grown from being 23 acres required to actually being closer to 32-to-36 acres in size,” she said.

Coun. Randy Donauer proposed an addition to administration’s recommendations that included working with stakeholders including school divisions, both Regina and Saskatoon Home Builders’ Associations, and the provincial government to either reduce or cancel the levy in the near future. The motion was unanimously approved.

Clark agreed that the new Holmwood High school would be starkly different from all previous high schools in Saskatoon.

“This… is the first time we are faced with this new change that the provincial government made that is very concerning, requiring the cities to pay for high schools,” the mayor said.

“We also have been coming up with funds to pay for elementary schools for the land and it’s a downloading of costs.