At this point, the City of Saskatoon has a civic operating deficit of $6.54-million for 2021, but administration presented a plan to the Finance Committee which approved offsetting that preliminary deficit through dipping in to some contingency funds. Under provincial law, municipalities aren’t allowed to operate with a deficit.

Councillor Randy Donauer says it may be misleading for residents to hear there is a deficit, because it may seem like there was some mismanagement, but in reality, it was because administration planned ahead and had contingencies in place, that there didn’t have to be an emergency meeting to deal with this.

Director of Finance, Kari Smith, says the shortfall was largely due to snow and ice removal costs in 2021 from the November 2020 blizzard, higher than anticipated I-T costs, and lower operating revenues including parking tickets and leisure centre use.  Municipal revenue sharing from the province was also lower than anticipated, by about $750,000.

The $6.54-million will come from the Canada Community Building Funds, where money had been set aside for this purpose, along with a one-time increase from the Water Utility Return on investment and from the Fiscal Stabilization Reserve. The budget also includes a $12.25-million surplus for its utilities.