RECYCLING, OTHER FEES UP

Province expects to take in $18 million

With the April 10 budget REGINA approaching, the Sask. Party government is looking to plastic jugs, pop cans and juice boxes to help stay afloat.

On Friday, the province announced changes to a range of fees and charges paid by residents and businesses that are expected to add close to $18 million in revenue for 2018-19.

The largest chunk, $10.2 million, will come from a two-cent increase on all refundable beverage containers in the province. Effective April 1, the environmental handling charges will cost consumers five cents for tetra cartons, seven cents for aluminum cans, eight cents for plastic jugs/bottles and nine cents for glass containers.

SARCAN recycling — which regularly sees recyclable return rates of over 80 per cent, according to the province — will not increase the amount of refundable deposits to correspond to the hike. So that means consumers will pay more in handling fees than they recoup when bringing in recyclables.

The $10.2 million in additional revenue is based on the predicted amount of the average number of beverage containers sold in the province, said Brady Pollock, director of environmental assessment and stewardship.

“That additional revenue will be submitted to the general revenue fund (GRF), and as we look to renegotiate our contract with SARCAN, the government will propose one cent of that (increase on each container) will go to SARCAN to help ensure sustainable recycling program into the future,” Pollock said.

The current grant agreement contract with SARCAN expires March 31, 2020, but the government will need to renegotiate much sooner. If the province and SARCAN agree to the proposal, Pollock said, they would split the $10.2 million evenly starting in 2020.

The non-refundable environmental handling charges were last changed in 1992.

“We are aware, based on information and analysis provided by SARCAN, that based on the current rates the program wouldn’t be sustainable past 2024. So, with this additional one-cent increase to SARCAN, it will ensure a sustainable recycling program into the future — into 2030,” Pollock said.

The second largest additional revenue stream increase, $6.4 million, is expected to come from a $30 increase on the base amount of all speeding tickets, plus the fine per kilometre travelled in excess of the speed limit will double.

The province is also increasing by $10 the charge for late payment of all traffic-related fines, so it will now cost $60. These changes take effect May 1.

Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said Friday there is “not one overarching ” reason for the increases.

“Each ministry would have their own rationale, depending on what the fee increase is,” she said.

NDP Finance critic Cathy Sproule said the province is increasing fees on “juice boxes, cottagers and pensioners, which seems to be an interesting choice.”

She called the move a “back-door way of raising taxes.”

With the budget on the horizon, Harpauer and her colleagues are looking to shrink the province’s deficit. Earlier this month, Harpauer revealed in a third-quarter financial update that the 2017-18 deficit was on track to be $595 million, which is $101 million lower than what was expected in the budget.

“It is definitely one revenue resource that we have, so it is important in that,” she said, making clear again some of the increases are to ensure “at the very least, we’re not losing money on some of the initiatives that we have within government.”

Last year’s budget increased taxes in Saskatchewan by nearly $1 billion. Asked what she would say to ‘Joe Citizen’ who is already paying more in taxes and now seeing certain fees increase, the finance minister reiterated again some are related to cost recovery while others can be avoided paying all together.

“If you don’t break the law, you won’t be paying extra money,” she said.

Other changes include oil and gas submission penalties, cottage land lease fees, fees for pension plan returns and registrations, irrigation water operation and maintenance fees and permit fee increases through the Water Security Agency.

This isn’t an isolated decision by the government: In 2017-18, the province increased fees by $9.6 million. The three prior fiscal years combined saw fees and charges increased by a total of $3.3 million.

The changes will add about $17.7 million to the GRF in 2018-19, and about $784,000 in revenue to nonGRF agencies and funds (Water Security Agency, Commercial Revolving Fund, and Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority).