Saskatoon police, library budgets get greenlit as councillors prepare to cut costs
City council aims to lower potential property tax increase by tightening spending
Saskatoon city council is putting the budgets of all services and organizations under the microscope as they seek to reduce property taxes, but the Saskatoon police budget made it through unscathed on Tuesday.
While some councillors pointed out issues they found with the Saskatoon police budget — such as adding a new position to manage an internal human resources and finance service — it passed without cuts.
It's the first budget passed during the three days set aside for determining city spending in 2024.
During debate, some councillors made it clear that their decision was an exception to their goal: cut costs outside of core services to reduce the $21.1 million deficit.
"We need to budget and spend — with the city's finances and our residents' finances — like we do at home," said Ward 5 Coun. Randy Donauer.
"The safety of our staff, the safety of your officers and the safety of our community is probably what's going to be driving some of the exceptions for me where I am willing to invest," he told representatives of the Saskatoon Police Service and the Board of Police Commissioners.
The city opened their deliberations with a tentative property tax increase of 7.22 per cent that would remain without funding compromises.
Ward 9 Coun. Bev Dubois said she wants to cut that] tax increase down to around four per cent.
The preliminary city budget document shows the police are receiving about $7.9 million more in 2024 than the year prior, which will be followed by a $6.8 million increase in the 2025 budget.
Some councillors argued that while the city can continue raising the annual funding for the police to respond to crime and mental health issues, there are few preventative measures in place.
"The amount of time and the number of resources that are devoted to health issues — to issues about housing, homelessness, poverty — from all of those services, it's worrying," said Ward 7 Coun. Mairin Loewen.
"We cannot, with our fiscal tools as an order of government, sustain and respond appropriately to those demands."
Saskatoon police to add officers
The police budget includes municipal and provincial funding for five more alternative response officers, or AROs, in the city.
The special constables work with vulnerable people and help them connect with support services, as well as aiding regular police officers by transporting people in custody or taking citizen complaints.
Shane Partridge, speaking for the Pleasant Hill Community Association, asked that some of those constables patrol the area which he says is plagued by crime.
"The police chief has said violent crime is decreasing in the city, but that's not so in Pleasant Hill. Pleasant Hill has been left behind," he said.
Partridge spoke before the budget was passed, but councillors told him the city could not instruct how the police service deploys its officers.
Library budget passes in narrow vote
The library budget tightrope walked with a narrow vote of six to five in favour.
Some councillors argued that the library's proposed budget is adding too many new positions and overextending its reach by providing social services to the vulnerable population who enter their building.
"We would prefer not to spend as much money as we do on security, but until the larger society deals with those complex issues there's not a lot a public library can do," said Saskatoon Public Library CEO Carol Cooley.
Others argued the public library should be considered a core service that provides critical support and safety, and say their constituents are worried that the central library's new location might not go through.
City council also unanimously passed the budget for the Remai Modern, which is marked under the umbrella of Saskatoon's arts, culture and events venues.
The museum asked for a three per cent increase in 2024 and 2.5 per cent in 2025 to keep up with inflationary pressure.
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