Saskatoon City Council has voted down several potentially significant budget cuts on three of budget deliberations.
The day started off strong with Councilor Zach Jeffries proposing a motion to prevent the hiring of four additional full-time staff at Saskatoon’s Material Recovery Centre.
Councilor Jeffries’ motion was voted in 6-5 by his colleagues. With the MRC functioning now with just six staff at a time, General Manager of Utilities and Environment Angela Gardiner says the Household Hazardous waste program would take a toll.
“I would see a service level reduction in the Household Hazardous Waste compared to what we have now. We might be able to offer a couple days next year, but not the nine that we currently have, ” she stated.
However, in 2023, there were only five HHW events which began in the second half of the year.
Several councilors including Cynthia Block suggested that only three Full Time Equivalents be removed instead of four, as they agree it would be out of the ordinary to sabotage a program that has already had millions of dollars poured into it.
“To open the facility and then basically make a lateral move, that doesn’t sit right with me in terms of the way we invested public dollars in th construction of this facility,” said Councilor Mairin Loewen.
To follow that approval was a string of defeated recommendations. These include the deferral of new Property Tax Funded Park Positions. This caught the eye of several councilors, however Saskatoon General Manager Lynne Lacroix explained that if those positions were removed, park maintenance would see a decline in service.
” (People would notice) the long grass in and around fence lines, signs, posts where we do the line trimming that there is. It would be more weeds and perhaps dead branches and such in shrub beds that we wouldn’t have the time and effort to clean up,” Lacroix noted.
The motion was voted down 6-5. It would have saved $197,100.
Funding for 10 youth centres and two traveling vans as part of Saskatoon’s Skateboard Program was nearly eliminated from the budget, as well.
The cut would have saved roughly $49,000 but would have also removed the free opportunity for primarily Indigenous youth in the community to participate in recreational programs.
Councilor Darren Hill, among many others, says that it is a very important initiative in Saskatoon.
“What we leverage with that $49 thousand is immeasurable with the impact on youth that it has in our City of Saskatoon. The ability to reach as many as we do with partnerships and coordination is well worth the simple $49 thousand that is in that business line,” Hill announced.
Councilor Bev Dubois disagreed, stating that community partners would be happy to lead the program should the City stop funding it, and the budget cuts need to be made somewhere.
Council also voted against reducing the operating hours of all indoor leisure centers by one hour per day, although it would have saved them $296,000 in the 2024 budget.
Saskatoon General Manager Lynne Lacroix says the hour lost would likely be the last hour of the day, shortening pool hours slightly.
She predicts that there would be losses if the motion was approved, but they were already factored into the net number of reductions.
“What we estimate is that we would lose approximately 60 thousand in admission revenues and 11 hundred in external hourly rentals per year. ”
The recommendation was defeated with a vote of 7-4.
On the other hand, there were some significant cuts made near the end of day three.
Council approved over $680,000 in budget cuts in the Corporate Asset Managment Business Line.
Council unanimously approved savings of $202,000 in 2024 and $84,400 in 2025 by transferring external lease savings. They also unanimously passed the deferral of custodial support for Recovery Park, which saved them $133,600.
In a 6-5 vote, deferral of custodial support for city yards carried as well, for savings of $53,500 in both 2024 and 2025. A trades position was also deferred for savings of $99,400.
A police mechanic and civic vehicles mechanic position was deferred as well, for $95,200 in savings on 2025.
A building operator position was eliminated to salvage $85,200, a radio shop coordinator was removed for $62,000, and a fleet mechanic was deferred for $50,800.
Another $11,500 has been saved after Council voted to implement a $1 service fee for online registrations.
Councilor Bev Dubois says she brought the recommendation forward because “anything that we do online, there is always some kind of a service fee, and a lot of times it is much more than a dollar. I think we need to keep up with the times on this, and a lot of things are done online.”
Councilor Gersher admitted that she doesn’t feel comfortable passing that charge onto residents when the City is not faced with a transaction fee like they do for online parking payment.
Council cut an additional $100,000 from the budget by reducing the trimming component of grass maintenance service levels by 25 per cent, as well.
The recommendation was one from a list of 23 in the Recreation and Culture budget, although the original proposal suggested reducing the trimming component by 50 per cent.
The motion carried with a vote of 6-5.
In the Urban Planning and Development Budget Plan, administration proposed just one option, which was to cut $24,000 regarding portable sign license fee increases. The recommendation was passed.
As of 4:45pm on Thursday, CFO Clae Hack says tax increases are now sitting at 6.26% for 2024 and 5.4% for 2025. On Tuesday-it started out at 7.22% and 5.58%, respectively.
