Saskatoon’s chief financial officer Clae Hack told the governance and priorities committee meeting on Wednesday, as members of city council contemplated significant budget deficits in 2024-25, that inflation was the largest pressure facing the city heading into 2024.

He says amid rising costs additional investment would be needed for roadway, facility maintenance and fire apparatus costs. Hack says the most significant pressure is the projected 10.2-million-dollar requirement for the city’s roadway preservation program to maintain the one in 20-year treatment cycle in the midst of 30-per cent plus inflationary increases in contracts.

When comparing Saskatoon to other communities there are noted differences. For instance, Saskatoon runs a light and power utility and Regina does not. Saskatoon operates their own water treatment and wastewater treatment services while Regina contracts out a large portion of those services. Saskatoon operates its own land development operation. Regina doesn’t include library FTE counts within their total FTE which is full time equivalent positions with the city and Saskatoon is larger than Regina.

The report presented was characterized as a starting point for discussions and subsequently did not contain any recommendations. There are budget discussions set up for June 22, July 25, and August 15. Hack says nearly 57 per cent of the budget goes to Police, Transport, Fire, and Transit.