Saskatoon City Council’s Governance and Priorities Committee will continue to find ways to decrease the forecasted deficits for both 2024 and 2025 at their special budget meeting tomorrow (Tues). From previous meetings, the original $52.4 million deficit in the first year and $23.2 million in the next have been brought down to $26.2 million and $19.3 million. In turn, the proposed tax increase for the next two years, which was originally estimated at 18.56 per cent for 2024 and 6.95 per cent the next year, will come down to just under 9 per cent next year, followed by a just over 6 per cent increase in 2025.

During the last special budget meeting, city councilors agreed to increase parking fees in an effort to counter the deficit. The cost to park would increase by 50 cents an hour, and a 15-cent fee would be added anytime the parking app is used. Downtown Saskatoon and the Broadway and Riversdale Business Improvement Districts have written to Council stating that businesses are on their way to recovering from the pandemic, but there are still challenges and this parking increase will not help with the turnaround.

At tomorrow’s meeting, Committee will consider recommendations proposed in sectors such as transportation, environmental health, land development and urban planning and development. Any decisions would still need to be review during budget deliberations in November.