'It just doesn’t make sense': Chamber urging Saskatoon city council to vote against tax increase
With the city council set to vote next week on additional tax increases, the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce has written a letter hoping to sway against an increase.
The city originally approved a 3.53 per cent property tax increase for 2023, but a report released on Wednesday is calling for it to be bumped up to 4.38 per cent. The increase would add $2.28 million to the city’s operating budget.
In a letter penned on Tuesday, Chamber of Commerce CEO Jason Aebig urged three other options it hopes the city council will consider next week during budget deliberations: to freeze the 3.53 per cent increase planned for 2023, act on cost reductions and options proposed by the city administration to bring the budget back to balance, and to defer hiring 30 full-time positions to address the city’s budget shortfall
Aebig says business owners have based their plans on the 3.53 per cent property tax increase and that another increase would create “unnecessary instability” as many small and medium-sized businesses are in “recovery mode” after the pandemic.
“Let’s not layer on now an additional increase. It just doesn’t make sense,” Aiebig told CTV News.
In October, the city warned it was facing a shortfall of $8.3 million because of COVID-19 and inflation costs. Aebig suggests the current deficit challenge the city is facing isn’t an income problem but a spending problem.
Aebig says 59 per cent of the city’s operating costs are for staff salaries and payroll costs. He says deferring hiring would help close the budget gap.
RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS
Ward 6 City Councillor Cynthia Block says Saskatoon’s commercial property tax is either the lowest or second lowest in the country, while residential property tax ranks “in the middle of the pack” compared with other prairie cities.
Saskatoon’s Chief Financial Officer Clae Hack says one-time funding will get the city through 2023, but beyond that, they’re running out of options.
“There’s all sorts of reserves we could take this money from, but we would literally be using our savings to pay like a mortgage because it’s ongoing,” Block told CTV News.
Block says in 2021 administration was asked to find $7 million in savings and was able to find $5 million.
“That did come about because there were freezes on hiring and deferring of hires and deferring training and, in many cases, limiting travel entirely,” she said.
Budget deliberations are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at city hall from Monday to Wednesday next week.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Quebec judge orders bus driver to stand trial for 2023 daycare crash deaths
A judge has ordered a Quebec man to stand trial on charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of two children killed when a bus rammed into a Montreal-area daycare last year.
Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.