Forgive me if I’m not as positive on the provincial budget as many others seem to be, but after listening to Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney’s press conference last Wednesday, this effort by the provincial government to be ‘fair’ is a bunch of nonsense.
I also stand to be corrected if I’m wrong, but from what I understand over the last two years, Yorkton gets the shaft.
There is nothing fair about ripping up a lifetime contract that the City of Yorkton had with the Saskatchewan Government with regards to franchise fees being paid back to the city in exchange for selling their municipally owned hydro company back in 1958 (exact year may be incorrect), which is what occurred and which was the agreement. This really can’t be disputed based on the information I have absorbed over the past year. There is nothing fair about charging Yorkton residents and businesses a 10 per cent municipal surcharge on my SaskPower bill when a portion of that money no longer is coming back through these franchise fee payments. The least you can do if you are breaking a contract is to stop collecting the money. And, if you need the money, get your proposal for a further 10 per cent rate increase in front of the Public Utilities Board. Be up front about the fact you are jacking up our bills.
What’s even more unfair is that the province is selling a misleading story that this budget is good for municipalities. While it may be true that a number of them are receiving more money from the province than what they were previously, the fact of the matter is that Yorkton taxpayers are the ones giving the money. Not the provincial government. The provincial government is taking money that is, rightfully, Yorkton’s and using it as a piece of what is distributed provincewide. Meanwhile, Yorkton city taxes go up when they don’t need to. Basically, your taxes go up so Swift Current can get more money from the province, hypothetically allowing their city government to lower taxes on its residents. Sound fair? Your Saskatchewan Government thinks it is.
Now, I don’t blame Mayor Maloney for putting a positive spin on this. After all, the provincial government is providing over $200,000 to Yorkton as a ‘backfill’ so that we aren’t worse off than last year as far as revenue sharing; but what’s happened in the last two years is that this city is being punished for having a good economy with bigger businesses than what you’d typically see in a city this size. Why would Mayor Maloney criticize further when the province hammered us as it is for playing nice? The franchise fees paid to Yorkton from the province through the SaskPower contract were directly related to our SaskPower consumption. That’s why the money given to Yorkton seems high. It’s because we have a very productive city with big business here. But in one fell swoop, the province gutted a significant chunk of the city’s revenue that it was entitled to and decided to keep it for themselves because they have their own financial troubles.
Therefore, they just take what, really, isn’t theirs to begin with and Yorkton jacks up the taxes and we all get mad at Mayor Maloney and his councilpeople (thanks Trudeau for influencing the column) when they really have no other options at their disposal.
People need to understand that grants-in-lieu and revenue sharing are not the same thing. If the province wanted to give Yorkton a bit less in revenue sharing because the franchise fees (or grants in lieu) are so high, then that’s a discussion worth having. But, yanking money that’s entitled to this city and still making the citizens pay as though it is coming back as it used to and then distributing that money ‘equally’ all across the province isn’t fair. What we’ve lost in our country is the ability to understand that fair and equal don’t have to be one in the same. In fact, they shouldn’t be.
While we are on the subject of fairness, the provincial government seemed to boast about putting over $6-million into the urban connector program to help municipalities across the province rebuild roads that are a shared access between cities and the province. York Road, which leads to the Yellowhead HIghway, would be a good example of this. Well, $6-million spread out across the province, means Yorkton can expect to get help for about 15-metres of the entire road. Sound fair? Your Saskatchewan Government believes it is. Side bar - It sounds like passing lanes are coming for the highway between Melville and Yorkton and then from Yorkton to Canora. So, give credit where credit is due.
The other thing that’s fair, introduced by the provincial government this week is that if you end up getting a good deal on a used vehicle, too bad. You pay the tax on the ‘red book’ price. Should you get hosed by someone selling you a used vehicle and you pay more than the ‘red book’ price, guess what? You pay the tax on the higher price. Fair. Provincial government style. I don’t know why they don’t just send out agents to tax yard sales.
In closing, I hope you lefties don’t have your hopes up. This isn’t about ‘choosing’. It’s about wanting real fairness. Not something unfair dressed up and called fair by my government. I expect more from them and not all they do is wrong, but this issue with our city government is not right at all.
