An injection of cash from the provincial government may help Saskatchewan rural municipalities limit property tax increases this year.
Municipal affairs minister Bill Hutchinson recently announced that the government will put an additional $10.41 million into the revenue sharing pool for rural, urban and northern municipalities.
The new funding is on top of the $7.9 million added in the March budget and pushes the total available money for revenue sharing to $140.5 million, or 15 percent more than last fiscal year.
Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities vice-president Jim Hallick said the money would allow municipalities to keep property tax increases to a minimum and still do needed road and infrastructure work.
Read Also
Interest in biological crop inputs continues to grow
It was only a few years ago that interest in alternative methods such as biologicals to boost a crop’s nutrient…
The province’s 296 RMs, with a population of 179,969 according to the 2006 census, will share $44.6 million. The 13 cities, home to 533,004 people, will receive $54.1 million.
Other urban municipalities will share the rest, including towns, villages, organized hamlets, resort villages and the north.
The province said it found the extra money after a record-breaking sale of oil land rights in April.
Hutchinson said the money won’t solve all the problems faced by municipalities struggling to maintain and improve infrastructure, but it will be built into the base funding.
As well, he added, negotiations are planned to develop a long-term solution to municipalities’ funding concerns. Hutchinson said he wants an agreement by fall.
“For the first time, probably in a number of years, the province has made infrastructure for municipalities a concern and brought it to the top of the table for future discussion,” Hallick said.
“We have been assured that we are going to go into negotiations for a permanent solution, and the fact that this is rolled into the base gives us continuity of funding, which is extremely important.”
Neither he nor Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association president Allan Earle could say exactly how much more money municipalities need.
The new money is unconditional, although Hutchinson strongly suggested municipalities use it to keep property tax rates in check.
The money does not address potential school division property tax increases.
Hallick said RMs looking at tax increases were those with resource development underway. He noted the “Roads to Resources” money in the provincial budget is only available to municipalities in northwestern Saskatchewan to help them build roads to service the energy sector.
“If you’re looking at the southeast, where the land sales were, that program is not in effect there,” he said, even though the area is home to increasing oil and gas development.
Both municipal leaders said the additional money is enough for now.
“Municipalities will spend it without any frivolity,” Earle said.
