Saskatoon city council approves 4.4% property tax hike in 2019

Saskatoon's property taxes will be going up again in 2019.

On Tuesday night, council approved a 4.4 per cent property tax increase, slightly lower than the increase initially proposed by administration.

The increase means a person who owns a home worth $371,000 will see an increase of $79.52 a year, or $6.63 a month.

Much of the increase will go toward maintaining civic services, while 1.24 per cent of the increase will go toward new initiatives from City Hall.

The new spending includes $13.5 million for upgrades to the Sid Buckwold bridge. The money would be spent on replacing the bridge's asphalt surface, as well as widening its pedestrian walkway.

City hall agreed to pay for 10 new positions at the Saskatoon Police Service, including three patrol officers and one traffic enforcement officer. The Board of Police Commissioners said the new officers are in response to the legalization of cannabis and investigations into drug-impaired driving.

The Remai Modern also received money to pay for three new positions, including a full-time Indigenous relations manager.

Three days had originally been allocated for budget discussions.