Regina to take a ‘real look’ at revenue sharing and the impact it has on ratepayers

The City of Regina is looking into downloading costs from the province and the financial impact it has on the city’s ability to deliver services.

The findings will be presented in a report to councillors in the summer and shared with the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) and the Minister of Government Relations.

“This will be a cost-benefit analysis of revenue sharing and what it means, and how it impacts our community and all communities across the province,” said Regina Mayor Michael Fougere.

“It’s important for SUMA to show what the real picture is. Downloading has a significant impact on us.”

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Ward 8 Councillor Mike O’Donnell introduced the motion for the report during the 2020 budget. It was supported unanimously by council.

“I’m a little fed up we’re always told we have money,” said O’Donnell.

Regina receives about $42 million in revenue sharing, but O’Donnell said “simple math” shows “we’re now greater than 50 per cent of that money spoken for by downloads.”

He said it’s forcing municipal governments to raise taxes or cut services.

Fougere says their hands are tied with the Cities Act. He hopes the province is willing to amend the act which would allow Regina to increase their revenue as the city’s only source of revenue is through property taxes.

“While we’re happy with the transfers, there is downloading to the cities as well that we talked about… that actually affects our bottom line,” said Fougere. “So we struggle, and the taxes we do have don’t grow with the economy. It’s flat.”

The City of Regina gets about $2 million more in revenue annually through property taxes but it’s not enough to keep up with the growing population.

“It just does not cover the cost of new fire trucks that we need, new buses that we need, more parks. It’s very difficult,” Fougere said. “Our reality is we’re hamstrung by the sources of money to supply these services.”