Saskatoon city council granted the Remai Modern art gallery a funding increase while scaling back snow and ice projects on the first day of 2018 civic budget talks.
The proposed property tax increase at the end of Monday evening’s deliberations was 4.43 per cent, which is equal to a $77.21 increase annually for owners of an average house in Saskatoon.
The property tax increase is down from 4.96 per cent, which was presented in a preliminary budget document released in October.
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Council unanimously moved to spend $450,000 to improve street sweeping, while rejecting a $200,000-proposal to improve road maintenance services.
Coun. Ann Iwanchuk was the lone councillor to support increasing snow and ice management funding by $1.2 million and it was scrapped. An $80,000-pilot project for snow rut removal failed as well.
A $50,000 commitment for a snow-related study passed in hopes of creating future revenue. A $60,000 pitch for blue lights on snow removal vehicles also received council approval.
The mayor emphasized that council didn’t cut funding for snow removal compared to the previous year, but decided not to undertake certain new projects.
WATCH BELOW: Saskatoon city council gets ready to debate budget
The Remain Modern art gallery was the subject of a lengthy discussion, but ultimately received the recommended $400,000 budgetary increase to $5.5 million in civic subsidy.
More than 34,000 people have visited the Remai Modern in its first month, according to art gallery officials.
However, they acknowledged a revenue target of $5.3 million is “ambitious” and an “area of vulnerability.”
“2018 will be the first – our first – fully operational year, so we’ll be monitoring the revenue projections very closely,” Remai Modern CEO Gregory Burke told reporters.
“On the other side, of course, we’ll be monitoring the expenditures. There are probably unknown expenditures at this time,” he added.
Budgets for police, the public library, utilities and environmental health passed with no changes and little resistance.
Budget deliberations are scheduled to continue Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.
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