Cities, towns seek more collaboration under Moe

Municipalities association encouraged by what it’s seen so far with new premier

The president of the organization that represents Saskatchewan’s cities and towns wants a more collaborative relationship with Premier Scott Moe’s new provincial government.

“So far, so good,” Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) president Gordon Barnhart said in an interview on Wednesday. “I think that they’ve been saying they want to have consultation before decisions are made and I think that’s a step in the right direction.”

Moe took over from popular longtime premier Brad Wall last month as leader of the Saskatchewan Party and the province’s new premier.

The last budget under Wall, tabled in March 2017, slashed some grantsin-lieu payments to urban municipalities, which left city and town halls across the province scrambling to replace the lost revenue.

The move surprised cities and towns, and 2018 budgets still reflect the struggle to cope with fewer provincial dollars.

Reduced provincial revenue was blamed for more than half of the City of Saskatoon’s 2018 property tax increase of 4.7 per cent.

Other cities, like Regina, are still formulating their 2018 budgets.

Moe warned of another “tight budget” at the SUMA convention in Regina this month.

Still, Barnhart said he is encouraged by the degree of consultation so far, including a meeting between SUMA executives and Finance Minister Donna Harpauer and Government Relations Minister Warren Kaeding.

“That doesn’t mean we’ll get everything that we ask for,” Barnhart said of the April 10 provincial budget.

He declined to reveal specifics, but Saskatoon Coun. Darren Hill, who also serves on the SUMA executive, shared a few details at a city council committee meeting Tuesday.

Hill said the province is not expected to restore the grantsin-lieu from Crown corporations eliminated in the last provincial budget, but there were “great conversations” on possible replacement revenue.

The province is reviewing the revenue-sharing formula, but extensive changes are not expected, Hill said. The Sask. Party government has shared one-fifth of provincial sales tax revenue with municipalities for most of its time in government.

On the pending legalization of marijuana, Barnhart said SUMA is lobbying for municipalities to get one-third of the expected revenue headed to the province from taxes on marijuana. The federal government has committed to send 75 per cent of marijuana tax revenue to the provinces.

Barnhart said municipalities are only looking for reimbursement of the costs associated with legalized marijuana, such as training police officers to detect impaired motorists.

“It’s not going to be a gravy train as far as I can see,” he said.

Barnhart repeated that the association would like to see more details about the province’s plan for legal marijuana as soon as possible.