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City council has approved two bylaw amendments that deal with property assessment preparation deadlines and the purchasing policy at city hall.

Council gave three unanimous readings to both bylaws during its recent regular meeting. Since there was no dissent, the bylaw amendments went into effect immediately.

Assessment deadlines

Section 174 (2) of The Cities Act legislates the annual due date for preparing the property assessment roll for cities, with that date being April 1 of every year. However, the bylaw amendment extends the due date for this year to May 1.

This change happens because the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) will deliver the DVVHVVPHQW ¿OH ODWH WKLV \HDU WR FLW\ KDOO 7KLV ZLOO SUHYHQW WKH GHSDUWPHQW RI ¿QDQFLDO VHUYLFHV IURP PHHWLQJ WKH OHJislated deadline.

³,Q WKH SDVW WKH FLW\ KDV UHFHLYHG WKH ¿QDO DVVHVVPHQW ¿OH QR ODWHU WKDQ 0DUFK 7KH ODWH GHOLYHU\ RI WKH ¿OH ZLOO QRW JLYH WKH GHSDUWPHQW RI ¿QDQFLDO VHUYLFHV VXI¿FLHQW WLPH WR UHYLHZ WHVW DQG XSORDG WKH ¿OH LQWR WKH WD[DWLRQ system to meet the legislated deadline above,” a council report said.

The report added that a section under The Cities Act allows council to extend the due date for “council-related matters” if the legislated deadline cannot be met.

Purchasing policy

Council approved a motion during its March 14 regular meeting to direct city administration to amend the city’s purchasing policy and amend the city administration bylaw to make the adjustments legal.

The amendment to the purchasing policy changes three items in the document: guidance is added around WKH SUH TXDOL¿FDWLRQ SURFHVV IRU WHQGHUV DQG UHTXHVWV IRU proposals, the approval limits on changes orders are upGDWHG DQG D SURFHVV WR KDQGOH GLVTXDOL¿HG ELGGHUV KDV been added to the policy.