Reiter touts provincial budget, Saskatoon’s share of revenue sharing during stop in Saskatoon

Finance Minister Jim Reiter continued his provincial budget roadshow by visiting Saskatoon business leaders Friday. Keenan Sorokan reports.

Finance Minister Jim Reiter continued his provincial budget roadshow by visiting Saskatoon business leaders Friday.

Reiter unveiled the provincial budget at the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. He then spent Thursday speaking with members of the Regina Chamber of Commerce about the budget and then followed that up by driving to Saskatoon to meet with its chamber members a day later.

“we are not immune to all of the crazy geopolitical forces going on and all the nonsense trade issues, protectionism that’s happening,” Reiter said. “We’ll get through that. Nobody in this country is better positioned to tackle that than we are.”

Reiter talked about the need to keep Saskatchewan’s deficit low while servicing debt if there are any unforeseen surpluses. He also spoke of various projects that are planned or underway to keep the province’s economy moving forward.

The conversation then shifted to the province’s municipal revenue sharing program. Under the revenue sharing formula, municipalities receive unconditional funding based on three-quarters of one point of provincial sales tax revenue from two years prior. For the upcoming fiscal year, that means Saskatoon will receive $71.7 million.

Saskatoon received $17.7 million in 2007. Using the Bank of Canada inflation calculator, Reiter said that adjustment would be $26.6 million in today’s dollars, highlighting the increases the revenue sharing program has seen in recent years.

“It’s tied to PST. It’s secure. They know what’s going to happen, and they can count on it,” Reiter said. “You can contact any municipal organizations across any of the other provinces — they’re all envious of what municipalities in Saskatchewan have.”

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On Wednesday, Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block renewed calls for a new revenue deal with the federal government, which could include the province as well. Block said unlike other communities, Saskatoon has to deal with a disproportionate amount of homelessness, as one example. That issue then exacerbates housing and adds increased costs at City Hall, which can only be covered by raising property taxes.

“We’re going to have to figure out other ways to have a fiscal framework that is not just dependent on our province, but also federal government to ensure that we can deliver for the residents of our city and for cities really right across Canada,” she said. “We’re all looking for a new deal.”

Block and other city councillors have previously said they city is forced to pay for more than 60 per cent of public infrastructure in Canada and many services, yet doesn’t have the same financial levers the federal or provincial governments have.

In 2023, the province announced a new approach to homelessness, which asked the city to take the lead role in identifying sites for new facilities for those experiencing homelessness in Saskatoon. Since then, the city has devoted numerous staff nearly full-time to working on the file, in addition to the added costs for engagement and consultation to find and locate potential sites.

Councillors have previously used this and other areas that have historically been responsibilities of the provincial government as an example of pushing costs onto municipalities.

“It’s easy to say, ‘the province is downloading,’” Reiter said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Reiter said he would welcome discussions with municipalities about potential changes for revenue sharing. Until then, Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce CEO Jason Aebig said this is the situation Saskatoon is in right now, and it’s up to the city to best allocate revenue sharing to keep costs low for residents.

“We’ve just been through a two-year budget cycle where once again we saw an increase to property taxes and an increase to rates,” Aebig said.

“Can you use some of that flexible revenue share money to offset some of those expenses?”