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Saskatoon’s city council hit the ground running on Monday in the 2025 budget deliberations with the proposed 5.84 per cent property tax hike being shaved down to 5.2 per cent thanks to extra investment revenue.
“We (were) happy to walk in this morning with an additional $2 million in our forecast to our investment income,” the city’s Chief Financial Officer Clae Hack said.
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The budget has not yet been finalized, as councillors need to debate further adjustments that could bring property taxes down even more.
Some adjustments the city is considering are additional Saskatoon Fire Department resource stotalling $181,500 for the Emergency Wellness Centre in Fairhaven to provide support to that community, including two fire bylaw inspectors and a vehicle.
City council is also considering adjusting certain revenue projections for parking services and franchise fees which would deduct $1 million from the budget if approved.
A significant proposal under consideration is allocating an additional $1.5 million to the snow and ice management budget to allow for the clearing of a potential sixth snow event in the city.
“We’ve seen more snow events in recent years, we’ve been running deficits and this funding would help us bring our actuals more in line to what we have in budget, and help us avoid those deficits in future years,” Hack said.
If all of the proposed adjustments were approved as is, Hack explained the property tax hike would be at around 5 per cent.
On Tuesday, more amendments or adjustments could follow during the council’s deliberations.
“We have a couple of agenda items, and more the heavy hitters in terms of considerations they’re making for changes and adjustments,” Hack said.
Saskatoon Police Service’s air support unit. (SPS Air Support Unit/X)
Record investment in the Saskatoon Police Service
The Saskatoon Police Service budget, the largest component of the city’s overall budget, was approved as proposed on Monday, with a record investment of $141.4 million.
Out of every dollar paid in property taxes, about 24 cents will go directly towards police funding.
Saskatoon Police Chief Cam McBride said the funds will go towards air support expansion, noting that the service’s plane has significant benefits.
Furthermore, the police service will have increased patrol resources, a dedicated warrant enforcement team, and will pilot a new way to investigate intimate partner violence.
“I’m really looking forward to how impactful that’s going to be,” McBride said.
McBride explained the issues the city is facing are complex and require collaborative approaches.
“The fact that we’re looking at an increase in staffing is going to be time consuming because it takes a long time to recruit the right people, hire them, train them, and then get them deployed in a fully operational capacity,” he said.
“When we consider those things, yes a budget decision is made perhaps in the moment, but the operation, the ability to operationalize that, it takes quite a while.”
Currently, police are in ongoing wage arbitration with its union, and once resolved the increased costs could end up back on the city council’s agenda.
Hack explained that the decision, whether it be positive or negative, could have additional implications impacting the budget’s finances further.
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