Saskatoon city council makes 1st cuts to proposed budget, potential property tax increase now sits at 6.7%
CBC
Saskatoon city council shaved $1.68 million on its second day of budget deliberations, reducing the current potential 2024 property tax increase to 6.65 per cent.
Councillors began their second day of deliberations looking at a projected $21.1-million deficit, which would lead to a 7.22 per cent property tax increase.
On Tuesday, council unanimously passed a $7.9-million police budget increase and narrowly passed the library budget.
Wednesday's proceedings featured a narrow vote in favour of shaving a portion of the city's capital reserve contribution, the first cut into the projected deficit.
Ward 5 Coun. Donauer introduced a motion to reduce the contributions to the city's reserves by three per cent in 2024, with the exception of the Fire and Roadway Preservation fund.
That motion would reduce the deficit by about $1.3 million.
Ward 4 Coun. Troy Davies said he would have proposed a larger number. Other council members said they preferred to go line by line through the budget to chisel away at the deficit rather than a large sweep.
"I don't like this any more than any more than anybody else does, but at some point we have to make some progress," Donauer said.
The motion narrowly passed, 6-5.
Just prior to Donauer's proposal, councillors had a contentious debate about shifting more of the property tax onto business owners than in previous years.
Ward 7 Coun. Mairin Loewen proposed changing the resident-to-commercial tax ratio from 1.59 to 1.75. That would mean businesses would pay more tax and homeowners would pay less.
If passed, the motion would have knocked down the current proposed residential property tax hike to 4.64 per cent and raised the business property tax to 10.88 per cent.
Some councillors argued making the motion without allowing Saskatoon people to voice their opinion on it was unfair. Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill called it "reckless."
Loewen said she was offended that fellow councillors were "casting aspersions" on the intent of the motion.
The City of Charlottetown is attempting to mend its relationship with Elections P.E.I.
The owner of a Hamilton restaurant says he "can't be more thankful" to the community for the response he received after an incident that police say they are investigating as a hate crime.
It was Windsor's Ward 10 councillor who gave his constituents the "Please Slow Down" sign sitting on the law outside the home where a woman died this week after a driver crashed through the building. Now, Coun. Jim Morrison says he's going to look into new traffic calming measures for the area.
When new immigrants arrive in Calgary without strong English, they often look for clearing jobs or warehouse work. But with unemployment rates among newcomers soaring, even these entry-level jobs are in short supply.
Laura Petit moved into her current rental in Thunder Bay, Ont., because she wanted to live somewhere quiet and accessible while recovering from open-heart surgery.
Before tiny French bulldog Clementine was brought to the Toronto Humane Society, she was found abandoned and bleeding inside a chip box in a park.
Canada's premiers are meeting virtually Wednesday with the prime minister to discuss the threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he hopes to talk about the country's approach to negotiations.
A man from Pelly Crossing, Yukon, wants the Whitehorse General Hospital to do better when discharging rural patients who arrive by medevac.
A prominent Canadian novelist is speaking out after a local high school teacher was ordered to stop teaching one of his award-winning novels in class because of its use of the N-word.
A 29-year-old Canadian woman is facing charges in New Zealand after customs authorities say she was caught with 10.2 kilograms of methamphetamine inside her carry-on baggage at an Auckland airport, with the contraband wrapped as if it belonged under a Christmas tree.
A day after a judicial recount confirmed the loss of his seat and two weeks after his party was nearly wiped out in the provincial election, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill has stepped down from the helm of the party.