A history of Saskatoon tax increases, and why some mayoral contenders say enough is enough

It's tax seasonfor Saskatoon municipal election candidates.

Mayoral contendershave increasingly turned their attention to the issue of property taxes in recent days, especially last week, when five of them addressed the issue to varying degrees.

Former Sask. Party cabinet minister Rob Norris was the first to the podium, hosting his fifth campaign announcement lastWednesday.

Norris said thatif elected on Nov. 9he would support dropping annual property tax increases to one per cent. For perspective, city councillors approved a 3.7 per cent property tax hike for 2020 last November.

"It's almost a four per cent increase," Norris said."I haven't met anyone whose salary is going up by eight or 10 per cent."

Norris said he would call for an immediate hiring freeze at city hall with exceptions made for essential city-funded services such as police and firefighting and also seek to cut the mayor's salary, which currently sits at$145,152, by 10 per cent.

Norris said he also wants to end the recently-introduced practice of planning Saskatoon budgets two years at at time.

Last November was the first time the city did so. On top of approving the 2020 increase,councillors also preliminarily approved a3.8 per cent hike for 2021. According to the city, councillors this November will vote again on the final figure for 2021.

"I will work to get us out of Charlie Clarke's fiscal straitjacket," Norris said of the two-year budgeting cycle.

Mayor Clark defends tax record

Charlie Clark confirmed in late July he would seek a second term, but said he would not campaign in earnest until September.

On Wednesday, Clark sent an email update to subscribers saying he is getting ready to formally launch his re-election campaign this week.

• Here's who's running (so far) in the 2020 Saskatoon municipal election, ward by ward

Clark also defended his council's record on property taxes, saying "2020 and 2021 will have the lowest tax increases in a decade, despite record investments in fixing roads, sidewalks, and waterlines."

Here's the history of Saskatoon property tax increases over the last decade, according to the city. The italicized increaseswere approved by city councils overseen by former mayor Don Atchison:

• 2011: 4%

• 2012: 4%

• 2013: 5%

• 2014: 7.4%

• 2015: 5.3%

• 2016: 4%

• 2017: 4.8%

• 2018: 3.8%

• 2019: 4.4%

• 2020: 3.7%

Councillorswill vote again on the preliminary 3.8 per cent increase for 2021after it fluctuates constantlyduring the next round of budget talks this coming November.

Former mayor Don Atchison who led the city from 2003 to 2016 and is seeking the mayor's seat again said in his own tax-themed announcement last Friday that if he's re-elected, he will not vote for any tax increase no matter what is said during November's budget talks.

"We have to set an example," Atchison said, citing the fiscal pressures produced by the COVID-19 pandemic. "Businesses in the community today have had to lay people off. What about the families that have had to go without things too? It's all about being part of the situation."

Atchison said things have changed since the budget was passed last November.

"We need to open the budget up and we need to revisit it at this time," he said.

Atchison suggested delaying a stabilization reserve meant to offset losses in the city's waste management division and taking a close look a discretionary spending as some ways to prevent a tax hike.

Notion of zero increases 'foolish': Zielke

Businessman Mark Zielke officially launched his own mayoral campaign on Friday, just an hour and a half after Atchison spoke.

He called Atchison's pledge for zero per cent tax increases "foolish."

"It is very easy to talk about budgets into the future when you haven't even sat down and looked at the numbers," Zielke said.

"If somebody says they're going to do taxes at zero per cent or one per cent, then I can tell you that it's going to come from somewhere else. It's going to come from increased fines. It's going to come from parking, parking meters and things like that."

Zielke wasn't the only mayoral candidate to dig into an opponent last week.

"Rob Norris believes his hiring freeze solves everything," Cary Tarasoff said in an emailed statement. "Except he has no idea how this will affect temporary snow removal staff who are not currently on the payroll, or the vast number of summer students hired to do many tasks around the city each year.Did he mean those people as well?

"There needs to be more clarity in the words that Rob Norris states to the public."

The sixth and final mayoral candidate, ZubairSheikh, cited a zero per cent tax increase among the goals of his platform.

"Fiscal management, focus on better use of the budget, trim where it can be trimmed, eliminate unnecessary spending," his platform states.