Saskatoon mayor delivers optimistic State of the City address despite budget challenges

Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark spoke of opportunity and uncertainty in the municipality's future at a "State of the City" address at TCU Place on Tuesday.

About 300 business people and civic leaders were at the luncheon address organized by the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce.

In a speech that addressed the city's struggles to tackle a $9-million shortfall in this year's civic budget, the mayor spoke with optimism about the city's future.

"I know at this moment, 2017, we can position Saskatoon as a successful and resilient 21st-century city that is ready to help carry this province into the future," said Clark.

"We know that our future holds uncertainty but also great opportunity."

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The mayor spoke about the importance of clean energy, Indigenous employment growth, business development, and relationships with the provincial and federal governments. 

New measures to fill grants-in-lieu gap

On Monday, Saskatoon city council approved a handful of revenue-raising measures to make up for the province cutting decades-old grants paid to the city by SaskPower and SaskEnergy.

The measures include increasing parking ticket costs to $30, implementing a wage freeze for city employees, and boosting the property tax bill increase by an additional 0.93 percentage points, amounting to 2.55 per cent total.

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"Any solutions to the [budget] cuts should strengthen, not weaken, the confidence citizens of Saskatoon have in their city," said Clark at Tuesday's event.

Responding to a question about the city's relationship with Ottawa, Clark added that the municipality is also maintaining its relationship with the province, despite the recent budget cuts. 

"I've had good dialogue and our councillors have had good dialogue with the different cabinet members from the provincial government as well," said Clark.

"I really believe it's important that you stay engaged; you try and minimize the amount you are engaging in issues over Twitter or the media; and keep working to put your case forward as a city for why we need to be strong partners."