Municipalities Set To Receive More

Although it is unknown exactly how much it will mean to the City of Moose Jaw this Spring’s Provincial Budget could mean a lot of extra cash in the City’s bank account as the province is set to increase provincial municipal sharing by close to 11 percent.

The 11 percent increase would mean a record $278 million - or an annual increase of $27 million - in fiscal year 2020. A fiscal year is the 12 month period beginning in May of each year.

Since the 2007 - 2008 fiscal year revenue sharing has increased 119 percent. With the announcement, municipalities have overall been allocated more than $3.1 billion in provincial funding through the revenue sharing program from 2007-08 to 2020-21. 

“This massive investment will position municipalities across Saskatchewan for the new decade of growth and to continue making key investments in their communities,” Premier Scott Moe said in a statement. “Municipal revenue sharing has provided municipalities a stable and predictable source of provincial revenue, and I am proud to continue our commitment to supporting key local priorities that help lay the foundation for a growing Saskatchewan.”

In past the City has received less funds year over year from revenue sharing.

In the 2018 fiscal year Moose Jaw saw a drop of $414,000 in the amount it received through revenue sharing . The drop was because of how the Province allocated the funding pot - on a per capita formula - and since Moose Jaw had not grown at the same rate as other centres, funds were reduced.

The drop in resource and commodity revenues in 2016 had the then Brad Wall lead government introduce austerity budgeting as the province moved away from a resource royalty based tax structure. As part of that move towards an austerity budget the province cut Grants In Lieu. Grants In Lieu (GIL) are paid instead of property taxes as municipalities do not collect property taxes from senior levels of government.

Losses to Moose Jaw's bottom line in the 2018 fiscal year due to GIL cuts from SaskPower, SaskEnergy and TransGas totalled $2.7 million - $1.4 in the operating budget and $1.3 million in the capital budget.

In the past the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) - now rebranded as the Municipalities of Saskatchewan - has pointed out the increases in revenue sharing by the province has lead to a slow and continual downloading of provincial costs and responsibilties to municipalities.

“Municipalities are already struggling with a significant infrastructure deficit and the need to provide services to a growing population. Revenue sharing is an essential part of paying for current levels of service, not a windfall that can be used to save the provincial government money,” a 2017 SUMA report said.

The Government of Saskatchewan’s municipal revenue sharing program is based on three quarters of one point of the provincial sales tax (PST) revenue collected from the fiscal year two years prior to the current year.