Saskatoon·AnalysisThis month’s budget talks will cover spending for next year and 2027 and mark the first time Mayor Cynthia Block will preside over a two-year budget process. Six rookies joined council last year and will be making the big decisions for the first time.City council will debate a two-year budget with property tax increases of 8.23 per cent and 5 per centPhil Tank · CBC News · Posted: Nov 17, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Saskatoon city council is heading into talks about the city’s operating budget and potential tax hikes for the next two years. (Phil Tank/CBC)If there are any couches at Saskatoon city hall, somebody’s probably checked behind the cushions for spare change.Such is the reality as city council prepares to tackle an unprecedented property tax increase of 8.23 per cent. Not only has that already been reduced from the 9.9 per cent increase revealed in June, but it merely reflects the cost of maintaining city services, not improving or expanding them.Council has been promised more than 100 options to reduce the tax hike during budget deliberations next week.So what should we expect?This month’s budget talks, which will cover spending for next year and 2027, mark the first time Mayor Cynthia Block will preside over a two-year budget process. Plus, six rookies joined council last year — the highest turnover in three decades on council — and they’ll be making the big decisions for the first time.The four veterans — Troy Davies, Randy Donauer, Bev Dubois and Zach Jeffries — are among the most aggressive councillors in pursuing lower tax hikes. Davies, Donauer and Dubois voted against the last two-year budget in 2023, which included tax hikes of six per cent and 5.64 per cent.Council will also consider spending options like an affordable housing plan costing $8.6 million over two years, which would boost the tax hike an extra 1.3 per cent each year.Politicians will also debate charging higher fees for out-of-towners to use city-run pools, rinks and recreation centres, and a possible increase in bus fares.But those seem more like symbolic gestures than legitimate efforts to reduce the tax increase. Consider that if you want to decrease the property tax increase by one per cent, you must eliminate $3.3 million in spending; the operating budget is poised to jump to $1.2 billion next year. Or you must find $3.3 million in revenue.WATCH | Saskatoon adjusts deal with company picked to run new downtown arena:Saskatoon adjusts deal with company picked to run new downtown arenaMayor Cynthia Block joined Saskatoon Morning to talk about a new deal the city made with the company that will run the new downtown arena.Yet the recently released civic survey commissioned by city hall suggests most people would pay more to address the city’s homelessness crisis. Forum Research Inc. surveyed 398 online panellists for the survey, which was conducted from July 11 to Sept. 2 — so, yes, people expressed a willingness for higher taxes, even after the staggering 9.9 per cent preliminary increase was made public in June.People want to pay more?Should we believe that the good folks who took part in this survey, which lacks a margin of error because it’s not a true random sample, are representative of the population?Rookie Coun. Robert Pearce blasted the idea of an extra fee or levy for homelessness, since people who live in his west-side ward are already paying for vandalism, thefts and cleanup.And let’s recall the last time a city survey showed Saskatoon residents were willing to pay more for better service.A dozen years ago, a council that included Davies, Donauer and Jeffries imposed a 7.43 per cent property tax increase, still the highest in history for city services.Most of that increase came from a dedicated road repair levy that appeared to have substantial support from residents, according to a city poll.But people’s appetite for high tax hikes proved to be short-lived. The next year, a proposed increase of 7.32 per cent was whittled down to 5.34 per cent in a contentious budget debate. Three councillors, including Donauer, voted against the budget.And, in an extremely rare move, council rejected the 2015 police budget until the request was reduced by four new officers. That seems unimaginable today, when the least dramatic part of budget talks is whether council will back the police increase.People believe crime is prolific. In the recent civic survey, 82 per cent of respondents rated crime in the city as high, even though the crime rate dropped significantly last year compared to 2023.However, we may have seen an indication from Block that greater scrutiny will be applied this year to the police request for a budget increase, which sits at 8.62 per cent for next year and 6.16 per cent in 2027.Block praised police Chief Cam McBride at a board of police commissioners meeting last month for reducing those increases from the preliminary hikes released in June — before pressing him to keep looking for savings.That suggests a different tone may dominate this year’s budget talks.ABOUT THE AUTHORPhil Tank is a journalist in Saskatoon.
Saskatoon budget talks tackle unprecedented tax hike
