The Saskatchewan government has decided how municipalities will share extra provincial revenue this year after the associations representing them couldn’t agree.
There is $264.4 million in the revenue sharing pool for 2013-14, up $27 million from last year. Municipalities receive the money equal to one percent of provincial sales tax.
Government relations minister Jim Reiter said March 18 the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities nearly reached consensus on allocation.
They agreed that the current formula, which recognizes provincial interests in municipal services such as transportation and policing, should still apply to the existing pool of money but differed on how to allocate the extra $27 million.
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Reiter said the government decided to take $2 million off the top for northern Saskatchewan and split the difference on the remainder.
“Half of it will be allocated on a per capita basis to recognize SUMA’s position that our growing communities’ population causes pressures for municipalities, and the other half (will be allocated) on the current formula which recognizes that there’s some provincial interests in certain municipal services and also the fact that many of our key industries — potash, oil, gas, agriculture — are located in rural Saskatchewan,” he said.
SARM had advocated the new money be allocated on the existing formula.
“He split the difference and we’ll live with that,” said SARM president David Marit.
This year urban municipalities will get $170 million, rural municipalities $74.7 million and northern municipalities $19.7 million.
Those amounts are up $18.1 million, $5.9 million and $3.1 million, respectively.
Within each funding pool, allocations will remain the same until 2017-18: cities will receive 47.945 percent, RMs will get 28.254 percent, towns and villages 16.345 percent and northern municipalities 7.456 percent.
Marit said he is concerned that the percentage to RMs for the next five years is actually dropping slightly from 29 percent.
Reiter said he hoped both organizations would consider that they at least got half of what they wanted.
There are no restrictions placed on municipalities when it comes to spending the money.
