Premier Scott Moe. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

By Glenn Hicks

REVENUE SHARING

Premier’s revenue sharing boost not what it seems: P.A. councillor

Feb 3, 2020 | 3:52 PM

The premier has announced record revenue sharing with cities for the coming fiscal year, but a Prince Albert city councillor suggests the government is giving with one hand while taking with the other.

Speaking at the annual convention for the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) today, Scott Moe announced an extra $27 million for cities. That money comes from a very small portion of the provincial sales tax.

Overall funding under the municipal revenue sharing program will increase to a record of $278 million next fiscal year. That’s an increase of nearly 11 per cent from the current fiscal year and is almost a 119 per cent increase from the 2007-08 fiscal year, according to a media release from the government.

“This massive investment will position municipalities across Saskatchewan for the new decade of growth and to continue making key investments in their communities,” Moe told delegates. “Municipal revenue sharing has provided municipalities a stable and predictable source of provincial revenue, and I am proud to continue our commitment to supporting key local priorities that help lay the foundation for a growing Saskatchewan.”

The government’s municipal revenue sharing program is based on three quarters of one point of the provincial sales tax (PST) revenue collected from the fiscal year two years prior to the current year.

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Taking and giving

However, while the premier highlighted the cash boost for municipalities, P.A. Coun. Don Cody suggested this wasn’t particularly good news because the SaskParty government increased PST from five to six per cent in 2017.

“It’s easy to give grants when you’re taking the money out of the pockets of us people, so in that regard we’re really not getting any further ahead,” Cody told paNOW from the convention.

While he was prepared to give the government credit for putting the extra money in, he didn’t think the announcement was a sign Saskatchewan had turned a corner after years of economic challenges.

Cody and Prince Albert have brought a resolution to the SUMA convention calling for the abolition of the unpopular PST on municipal construction projects. He cited the $750,000 the city had to pay toward the two recent reservoir projects as an example of the give-and-take tax gripe cities have with Regina.

Cody was expected to amend that resolution to try to further reduce the financial burden on the sector. He wants the wording ‘all construction, labour and materials’ to replace ‘municipal projects.’

“The construction industry then can also have the pleasure of not having PST and we can certainly get the housing industry going like we haven’t got it going now,” he said.

Last week, figures released by the Saskatoon and Region Home Builders’ Association (SRHBA) showed from 2018 to 2019, single family home permits in Prince Albert slumped from 85 to 10.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow