The City of Regina's executive committee has voted in favour of a preliminary budget proposal that includes an increase of $27 a month or $320 a year for the average homeowner. Those figures stem from a proposed mill rate increase of 8.5 per cent and utility rate increase of 5.8 per cent.

The budget proposal will now be debated by city council in March.

The motion passed unanimously, but some city councillors said that they'd like to see the final rate numbers reduced during budget deliberations.

"With the rising costs, the inflationary pressures, we couldn't have a zero per cent mill rate increase," said Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak. "But I think we need to have a more measured increase."

"The good thing about having this information now is we have the opportunity for the next several weeks to try and assess where there may be the opportunity to realize some savings."

Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo said that while the number is controversial to some people, he's looking forward to debating it in March.

"When you look at the whole aggregate of the mill rate, it really works out to call it a coffee a day at Tim Hortons," he said.

"We get it. It's the whole sum of the project, and the value of what we're seeing right now with property assessments that has everyone up in arms."

City administration admits that the proposed increase to the mill rate, which determines the tax per dollar of a property's assessed value, is higher than in past years.

Past budgets have prioritized low mill rate increases over covering the cost of civic operations, according to a report that went to the city's executive committee on Wednesday. Those budgets did not adequately reflect the costs of delivering city services, it said.

"That approach is no longer sustainable or responsible," the report said.

The proposed increase would help expand the city's operations while maintaining service levels, according to administration.

The report said only a small fraction of the proposed mill rate increase would support civic operations. The rest comes from previous council decisions such as capital projects, and funding for the Regina Police Service and Regina Exhibition Association Limited.

The executive committee also voted 7-2 in favour of Regina Public Library's 2025 budget submission. It's asking for a 4.6 per cent increase to the library mill rate, which works out to about $0.80 per month or $9.60 per year for the average homeowner.

RPL board member Cindy Kobayashi said the increase was needed because of the library's growing responsibilities with the public.

"We are in a collective bargaining year. We have increased safety and security issues that we are needing to address as we're working with more and more vulnerable populations in the city," she said. "We are serving the community in so many ways that we can't possibly keep going the way we are with a lower request."

RPL board chair Marj Gavigan said the increase amounts to less than the cost of one paperback book for the average homeowner.

The library said it needs the increase to make up for past decisions. Over the past 10 years the average yearly library mill rate increase has been 2.25 per cent.

"Like the city, a significant portion of our budget goes to salaries. This is one reason why a mill rate as low as 2.25 per cent increase is not sustainable," Gavigan said.

The money would also be used to upgrade the RPL's cybersecurity tools to help prevent cyberattacks.

The RPL is also looking for council to reaffirm a commitment made by the previous city council. In July, city council under then-mayor Sandra Masters agreed to commit between $92 million and $119 million in debt financing for the building of a new main library branch.

Gavigan is hopeful that the mill rate and the debt financing will be approved.

"If we don't have a commitment for both the debt funding and the mill rate increase over five years, those developers who said they'd work with us and those funders who would be interested in donating to the project will fade away," she said.

Several councillors spoke against the project during the executive committee meeting, citing its cost.

Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo, who voted against the library mill rate motion, argued that the new library would join a long list of public projects that the city can't afford.

"We just asked for $280 million for a stadium. Another $200-$300 million for a pool," he said. "We're at a billion dollars. And we haven't even talked about infrastructure yet like roadways, sewers, water. We're at a billion dollars for luxury items at this point."

RPL executive director of finance and strategy Curtis Smith previously said consultants, architects and legal advisors have already been hired to get the process of building a new central library underway.

The request for proposal (RFP) process is already underway and is expected to wrap up by the end of the year. A design process is expected to evolve over 2026 with construction planned for 2027 to 2029.

Smith said that if everything comes together perfectly, the new central library would open in 2030.

The library mill rate will now also be debated as part of the city's budget discussions in March.