The provincial government is talking to the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, and Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney said that is at least a positive step.
A delegation from SUMA, including Maloney who is the organization’s vice-president of cities, said coming out of their recent AGM the province had indicated a willingness to talk, and last Thursday that process began.
“One thing that was good … the Minister and Premier had talked of getting together for consultations and they followed through with that,” said Maloney.
The meeting was with Warren Kaeding, Minister of Government Relations and Donna Harpauer Minister of Finance and others, said Maloney.
But in terms of addressing key issues discussed, Maloney admitted “not a lot” came out of the meetings.
It was an opportunity to once again have the ear of provincial ministers regarding some key issues, including who is going to cover the costs associated with the pending marijuana legalization.
While the exact costs to municipalities’ remain unknown, Maloney said, ultimately, there will be costs associated with specialized training of police officers, and the funding for test devices. “None of that is cheap,” he said.
Maloney said while indications are that the federal roll out of the legislation will be delayed it is still time to discuss who will pay the costs, adding SUMA believes the two higher levels of government have to be involved in the funding.
The meeting also gave SUMA a chance to once again talk to the province about grants-in-lieu.
“We advocated returning GIL funding,” said Maloney. “…I still maintain those deals were legitimate.” He added if not directly then at least through a program of funding which offsets those lost when GILs were cut.
In the shorter term Maloney said they also lobbied to have the cap on GIL funding cuts maintained. He noted that is “huge” for the City of Yorkton.
If the cap is removed it would mean a loss of nearly $800,000 to the city, which would require a four per cent increase in municipal taxes to make up. In addition, revenue share funding was also on the agenda.
“We want to make sure revenue sharing is fair,” said Maloney, who added there are concerns at SUMA that the system is skewing away from fair.
Maloney said the province has already stated the funding pools for urban and rural municipalities will be frozen for two years. “But the population is moving to the cities,” he said, adding SUMA believes the funds should follow the people as urban municipalities face servicing costs in terms of recreation facilities and similar costs.
