Saskatoon chamber pitches 7 per cent spending cut to address city budget shortfall

The Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce is calling on the city to reduce costs across all city departments by seven per cent.

The Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce is calling on the city to cut costs across all city departments by seven per cent.

"The best starting point for council to start making some tradeoffs would be a global cost reduction," chamber CEO Jason Aebig said.

"If we take the argument that inflation has really been driving most of what we're seeing here ... it makes sense that all aspects of the organization should share the burden."

Aebig said this tactic would give council and administration a "starting point" as budget deliberations carry on through the summer and fall to address the city's projected $75 million budget gap over the next two years.

Rather than have councillors go through the budget line by line to find savings — which is the current path, the chamber is offering an alternate path to cut the budget and put department heads in control of meeting a target.

"For anyone else, it's like trying to hit a bullseye from 30,000 feet," he said. "Managers are closest to the board. Set the target and then challenge their skills and creativity to get it done."

Aebig fears if the councillors stay on their current path, there won't be enough time to have proper discussions to get an upcoming property tax hike to a palatable number. The last special budget meeting ran roughly four hours long and resulted in almost no progress towards eliminating the shortfall as councillors instead debated procedure.