SUMA wants to engage in ‘meaningful consultation’ with province on budget

The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) is calling on government to engage in “meaningful consultation” following the provincial budget.

“I’m an optimist,” SUMA president Gordon Barnhart said. “We’ve been having some informal consultations and I think that’s going to lead to sitting at the table, because it’s in their best interest as well as ours to ensure these services are provided to the citizens of Saskatchewan.”

SUMA said their members feel blindsided by the end of grants-in-lieu-of-taxes for SaskPower and SaskEnergy, the end of STC, and suspended Community Rink Affordability Grant.

READ MORE: SUMA calls on Saskatchewan government to reverse payments in lieu decision

SUMA vice-president of towns Rodger Haywood said this hits small towns, like his home community of Naicam, especially hard.

“Our rink in Naicam loses between $50-70,000 per year depending on what we need to fix in the ice plant or anything else,” Haywood, who’s also Naicam’s mayor, explained. “So you take five thousand dollars off of there, that’s a big hit for our community.”

Barnhart said that many of these issues could have been avoided if there was consultation before the budget was delivered.

Finance Minister Kevin Doherty said that it had been made very clear ahead of the budget that everything was on the table, and Premier Brad Wall directly mentioned potential cuts at the SUMA convention in Saskatoon.

Members of SUMA still have many questions about what future saving measures may be in store as the province moves forward with their three-year plan to return to balance.

The organization wants to have further consultation with the province before the 2018/19 provincial budget.