SASKATOON – Education taxes, a bridge and liquor store hours were hot topics at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association’s bear-pit session with government ministers.
The annual event drew to a close Wednesday after provincial ministers and the Premier sat in the hot seat, taking questions from a crowd of over 11,000 representatives from Saskatchewan villages, towns and cities.
A few councillors from Prince Albert talked about the need for a second bridge to the city.
“When that bridge was down, the economic impact was huge,” said P.A. councillor Martin Ring.
But Minister of Highways and Infrastructure Don McMorris said the current bridge is in good shape and will be able to handle traffic for many more years.
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The province also says a $175,000 study shows the Diefenbaker Bridge in P.A. won’t reach capacity for another quarter-century.
As for education taxes, Minister of Government Relations Jim Reiter said there will be a significant increase to assessments, but that won’t transfer over to the tax adjustment.
“The assessments have increased 67 per cent across the board. We’re not going to hike it that much. The question is whether we go all the way revenue neutral. That’s part of the budget process, I’m not sure where it’ll end up but we’ll do our best during the process to mitigate increases,” said Reiter.
“We hope that every level of government is thinking beyond a period of current economic strength and insuring we’ll be fiscally responsible for the long term,” said Brad Wall.
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Municipalities who spoke to SUMA about changing liquor store hours will not be getting the power to do so in the immediate future.
Prince Albert admits it faces many substance abuse-related problems and is split on the idea.
“What we were afraid of is that we’re going to end up with one municipality taking a stance and another a few miles away saying ‘we’re open 24/7,” said Ring.
Donna Harpauer, who is minister for Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, said only Prince Albert and La Ronge have expressed concern of how late residents can buy alcohol and the effect it could have on drunk driving numbers.
Harpauer said she is on the fence about the issue and does not foresee any change until more communities express the same concern.
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