Saskatoon councillors have little to show after first day mulling budget cuts

Saskatoon city council made almost no progress towards eliminating its $52.4 million budget deficit during its first special budget meeting Thursday.

Saskatoon city council made almost no progress towards eliminating its $52.4 million budget deficit during its first special budget meeting Thursday.

The first of three budget meetings scheduled over the summer finished in the afternoon after more than four hours of discussion with only one motion brought to a vote.

"I can't imagine I'm the only one frustrated at the end of discussion today," Coun. Sarina Gersher said near the end of the meeting.

"My frustration stems from the lost opportunity we've had today."

Council was slated to go through certain budget line items to begin finding millions of dollars in savings based on a recommendation from administration.

Instead, councillors spent the first couple of hours working through procedures. The chair, Mayor Charlie Clark, called for a break to figure out how to proceed for the unique meeting.

Coun. Darren Hill then raised a motion asking administration to report back with budget implications if the city were to implement four per cent property tax increases in 2024 and 2025, rather than going through each line of the budget individually over the course of the summer and fall.