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The provincial auditor released a report, Saskatoon passed a budget with a property tax increase, and the NDP are criticizing the government's affordability plan.

December 04, 2024

December 4, 2024 | Advertise with us

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Good morning!

Here’s The SKoop for Wednesday, December 4:

  • Provincial auditor releases report,

  • Saskatoon passes a budget that sees a property tax increase, and

  • The NDP is criticizing the government’s proposed affordability plan.

Today’s Top Stories

Provincial auditor releases report

Provincial auditor Tara Clemett. (CKOM News)

The provincial auditor has released the second volume of her provincial audit report.

The full report from Provincial Auditor Tara Clemett has annual integrated audits of 175 different agencies, including integrated audits of 17 ministries, 33 Crown corporations and agencies, seven pension and employee benefit plans, and 35 healthcare affiliates.

According to the auditor, “The Ministry of Social Services did not consider best value when procuring appropriate hotel rooms for its clients prior to March 2024.” The report continued, “We found instances where Ministry staff may not have selected the hotel with the lowest nightly rate and did not document why not.”

In March of 2024, the Ministry opted to switch to a pilot program of obtaining three quotes for hotels, as well as contracting hotels in both Saskatoon and Regina. Former Saskatchewan Party MLA Gary Grewal was found in violation of the Conflict of Interest Act earlier this year after maintaining ownership of a hotel that was contracted by the Ministry of Social Services.

Clemett said moving forward, the Ministry needs to disclose payments to increase accountability, “Making this information readily available will allow the public to better hold the government and public sector officials accountable for the use of public sector funds.”

The auditor also reported on foreign ownership of Saskatchewan farmland. Clemett said, “We found there may be instances of farmland purchased or leased by foreign entities and not addressed by the Farmland Security Board.” Their recommendation was for the board to set escalation procedures for continued non-compliance, and inform foreign entities to sell farmland timely.

The auditor also reported on vacant Sask. Housing units in Regina and SPSA’s 911 call dispatching,

You can read the full report here.

Learn more about the great work the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association and its members are doing at saskheavy.ca.

Saskatoon council passes budget that sees property tax increase

Saskatoon council chambers.

The newly elected Saskatoon City Council has passed a municipal budget that will see a property tax increase.

Saskatoon city councillors approved a municipal budget that will raise property taxes 4.96% in 2025. Under the new rate, the average homeowner would pay about $9.14 more a month — based on a property value of $344,000.

Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block said, "I think we did our job. I think residents expect us to continue to fund core services and asset management, but they also wanted us to sharpen our pencils in order to make sure that we could get a property tax rate that was more in line with inflation. I'm happy with this budget."

Changes made during budget deliberations Monday and Tuesday created seven new items to consider. These included adding funding for a sixth snow event, reducing fees, lowering revenue projections, and adding two additional fire inspector bylaw officers dedicated to the emergency wellness centre and other shelter sites to help mitigate a backlog of more than 4,000 property maintenance complaints.

Mayor Block said she was impressed with how the council was engaged, "That's the part that I've been really inspired by. I'm finding that they are a very good, reasonable bunch. They're just trying really hard to understand the complexities of the challenges we face and do the best job they can for residents, and at the end of the day, that serves our city well." Block had previously said her hope was to see the tax increase below 5%.

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Beck, NDP criticize government affordability plan

NDP leader Carla Beck flanked by NDP MLAs Nicole Sarauer and Jordan McPhail.

The official opposition is criticizing the provincial government, saying the proposed affordability plan will not come into effect until 2026.

NDP leader Carla Beck posted on social media saying, “You don’t have to believe us when we say the Sask. Party “affordability measures” won’t kick in until 2026. Here are the Finance Minister and Deputy Minister confirming that the Sask. Party plans will do absolutely nothing for Saskatchewan families who are struggling right now.”

In the video, which is actually an audio clip, Finance Minister and Deputy Premier Jim Reiter says, “Essentially the lag time with the federal government moving the income tax back to us, it won’t impact this year, it would impact us next year.” The audio came from a recent press conference at the Legislative Building. In Question Period, Reiter explained that he had written to the federal government to see if the changes could be made before the 2024 filing.

The NDP attempted to move two of their own motions related to affordability, removing the PST from gas and groceries. Both motions were defeated.