CITY FACES $1.1M SHORTFALL

Waste handling, transit operations, traffic fines and a $710,000 drop in revenue from burial plot sales are affecting Saskatoon’s budget.

The City of Saskatoon is projecting a $1.1-million budget shortfall this year due to some familiar culprits, and a less familiar one: People’s preference for cremation over traditional burial.

Waste handling, transit operations and traffic fines continue to be the chief problems as the city tries to hit its 2018 budget with projected shortfalls of $2.47 million, $1.73 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

A $710,000 shortfall is largely attributed to lower than expected cemetery revenues due to fewer plot sales because more people are choosing cremation over traditional burial.

The projected $1.1 million overall shortfall amounts to 0.22 per cent of the city’s 2018 operating budget.

“The administration will be taking all reasonable measures to deliver a balanced budget at year’s end,” a city report says. The report will be considered by city council’s finance committee on Tuesday.

The multimillion-dollar shortfalls are mostly offset by some higher than expected revenues in other areas.

The city expects $2.5 million more in grants-in-lieu from SaskEnergy, attributable to a change the provincial government made in its spring budget.

The city is also expecting $500,000 more from its own utilities and is forecasting savings of $1.6 million due to lower payroll costs and staff vacancies for the rest of the year.

The other large shortfall of $610,000 comes from the recreation and culture division due to lower than expected recreation centre admissions and higher water costs for parks due to the hot, dry summer.

Higher fuel costs have also placed a strain on budget projections.

Municipalities in Saskatchewan are prohibited from running operating deficits. Last year, the city fell short by $3.1 million, but that was covered by money from a reserve fund set aside to make sure the budget is balanced.

The city’s finance staff project a four per cent to 4.5 per cent property tax increase for the 2019 budget.

The changes to grants-in-lieu by the province prompted city council to scale back this year’s property tax increase from 4.7 per cent to 3.79 per cent, despite concerns about lower revenues than expected.

The administration will be taking all reasonable measures to deliver a balanced budget at year’s end.