The potential civic tax bill for Melfort residents is going down – thanks to cuts and a provincial government reversal.
Rick Lang, Melfort’s mayor, said after the provincial budget, the city was looking at around a 13 per cent tax increase. Now it’s closer to five.
“Basically, when we’re moving forward, we’re just trying to come up with something that’s sustainable and acceptable from a tax increase [perspective], but it’s all reactionary to the provincial budget, based on what the government has saddled us with.”
One item that helps the city is the province’s decision to limit the cuts from SaskPower and SaskEnergy grants to a maximum of 30 per cent of the money received from the province’s one per cent PST revenue sharing program. That means instead of losing around $420,000, the city loses around $339,000.
“That’s going to help, but there’s still some challenges in the budget,” Lang said.
The mayor said he and council had a budget meeting, where city staff suggested items that could be delayed until next year and service cuts. Those cuts could include a reduction in mosquito control, reductions to roads and traffic services and Main Street Melfort – part of a program the province has also cut.
“There’s lots of things that could be adjusted up or down yet, but what we were given was these numbers to look at to rationalize in our own minds if we feel they’re doable or not,” Lang said. “When we have our next budget meeting, we’ll have some more information on those potential cut items and some more thoughts from council and then we’ll move forward based on what we hear and what council feels is doable.”
Also upcoming for the city are negotiations with the union about worker pay.
