The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association is again calling on the provincial government to eliminate the PST on construction projects.

Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers is Chair of SUMA’s City Mayors’ Caucus. He says they value and appreciate the municipal sharing agreement with the province, “but a medium sized city will pay 24 to 39 per cent of their annual Municipal Revenue Sharing grant back to the province in the form of PST on construction projects.”

Mayor Aalbers says that also doesn’t include what they pay in PST in operating expenses. SUMA has calculated that the City of Yorkton paid approximately $1 million in PST on their infrastructure projects, and for the City of Prince Albert, the total was $2.8 million. Through Municipal Revenue Sharing, the cities received $3.2 million and $ 7.1 million, respectively.

Prior to 2017 construction projects were exempt from PST.