Saskatchewan’s official opposition party is calling for both federal and provincial governments to work together to provide grants to help compensate for serious revenue losses felt by municipalities, and interest free loans to support property tax deferrals.

NDP Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon understands the province is in a tight financial position themselves due to the pandemic, but he says municipalities are being left in a terrible situation.

“You can’t run a deficit and so those costs are then born by property taxpayers and it’s not a time right now where Saskatchewan property taxpayers can take on the kind of hikes that would be required to cover these shortfalls.”

Wotherspoon says those support dollars may focus on some of the province’s larger centres that have taken a dramatic hit.

“On things like transit revenue so those with public transit and those with significant recreation assets: pools, rinks, rec facilities.”

The NDP is also calling for the provincial government to invest in Saskatchewan’s economic recovery by removing the PST from construction labour for municipal projects. (CKRM)