Saskatoon’s new mayor says the reason the proposed property tax for 2025 has escalated slightly since it was first put forward is because of an increase in police funding.
Cynthia Block participated in a question-and-answer session at a North Saskatoon Business Association Luncheon Thursday afternoon.
Block says if it were not for $1.5 million to fund new uniforms, vehicles, and equipment for the 37 police officers the province is funding, the property tax would be lower than originally predicted. However, she believes police funding is critical for addressing the city’s crime.
“In my view, that’s a critical piece that we need to fund, and we heard that on the doors. Just about every door wanted us to make sure we were funding police appropriately during these times.”
The original 2025 preliminary budget proposed a property tax increase of 5.64 per cent. The City has since made adjustments to both the expense and revenue columns, which led to $748 thousand in additional expenditures, resulting in a proposed property tax of 5.84 per cent.
Block says a lot of work was done last year to cut unnecessary lines from the budget, and she is happy with how it looks.
“I’m supportive of the budget going forward, because it’s actually making sure that we get to keep our Building Better Roads program in good shape, so that we are not falling back.”
Block reminded the crowd that Saskatoon used to be on a cycle to rehabilitate roads every 70 years. In recent years, the city was able to get on a 20-year cycle, but pulled back to a 25-year cycle last year to get the mill rate down.
“How far do we want to slip?” she questioned.
She says the budget covers the core service needs of the city, such as transportation, fire, and policing, and that with so many people struggling financially, bells and whistles are not a priority. She adds that sometimes, core services can be pricey, citing the price jump of a fire engine between 2020 and 2024.
“From $800,000 to $2 million for a fire engine. And what do you do, not get the fire engine?”
She reminds that the 5.84 per cent property tax is not final until council approves it next week during 2025 budget deliberations.
