Death, dogs will cost you more after Saskatoon budget meeting

Saskatoon's mayor and councillors continued to chip away at the city'smulti-million-dollar budgetgap during theirfourth special budget meeting,but a big shortfallstill remains.

They managed to slash another $1.1 million on Tuesday, bringing the funding gap from $45.5 million over the next two years to $44.4 million.

Some potentiallyheftyproperty tax hikes are still possible if nothing else is done.

"If left unmitigated, which again is unlikely due to the amount of meetings and reports still in front of city council to make decisions, the new proposed tax figures would be 8.54 per cent in 2024 and 6.04 percent in 2025," said Chief Financial Officer Clae Hack.

The meeting began on a divisive note as North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA) spokesperson Keith Moendisagreed with some of council on their environmental goals within the budget.

Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill posed the question to Moen on which level of government should be responsible for environmental sustainability if not municipal.

"We wouldquestion where it needs to be in any level of government," said Moen.

Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark shortly debated Moen on the topic.

"I just have to ask, Mr. Moen, like, are you aware of some of the impacts of climate on cities right now, that whether it's trying to mitigate floods or dealing with the impacts of extreme heat?" askedClark.

$1.1Mshaved

The big-ticket business line items that were agreed at this meeting included an additional 10 per cent on pet licenses that will generate $80,000 over two years, a three per cent increase in cemetery services bringing in $60,000 and adding 130 on-street paid parking spots to the Warehouse District and CentreIndustrial areas.

Council also successfully voted for "soft" medians, which have turf in the centre, to be swept once every two years saving $200,000 on that alone.

Finally, fire services saw one position deferred until mid-2024 and the other till 2025. Additionally, one permanent communications consultant job was removed.

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The next special budget meeting is scheduled for Aug.31. All decisions will be finalized when council gathers in November for their last budget meeting.

Council-wide support for transit

Among the items dealt with was transit. Council largely agreed on protecting bus transportation as an essential service and making minimal cuts to that department.

The only divisive topic surrounding transitwas a proposed 7.5 per cent (25 cent) increase on adult bus fares.

"Potentially, it would be those in our lower income community [and] fixed income community," said Clark.

"One thing the pandemic showed us is how essential a service transit is, so financially, based on the information we have, I'm not confident that this will improve ourbudget."

Ward 9 Coun. Bev Dubois voted in favour of bumping up the fee, saying based on information from city administration that Saskatoon has one of the lowest fare rates in Western Canada.

"I always support that [transit is] a service like police, fire and water and all of the other core services, but it can't bleed on the mill rates so bad that we can't look at things like this," said Dubois.

After coming to a tie in a vote, the motion to increase the fare price was defeated.

Council still has to look at reports and recommendations from city administration on environmental health, taxation and general revenue, arts and culture and several other areas.