On January 14th, SUMA’s Executive met with Premier Brad Wall and Minister Jeremy Harrison to discuss the status of the Municipal Operating Grant. Premier Wall strongly recommended that, in preparing their municipal operating budgets, Saskatchewan municipalities should use the 2009-2010 MOG numbers (same as they received last year). He stated that this is the “base amount” which municipalities should expect, and that his Government will do everything possible to see if an upward shift can be accommodated in this year’s challenging budget. Premier Wall also re-iterated the written commitment he made to all municipal elected officials before Christmas to fully implement the equivalent of one point of the PST before the end of his first term in office.
SUMA continues to express its desire to see the full force of the formula applied this year, as initially announced in the 2009-2010 provincial budget in order for the Province to properly fund services offered by municipalities on behalf of provincial interests. SUMA also stressed its disappointment that the current status of the MOG has in fact eroded the predictability of the formula, one very important element of the new program which was intended to remove the challenges of the incongruent provincial and municipal budget cycles.
The Minister of Municipal Affairs and SUMA acknowledged the strong Government to Government relationship which exists between the parties and invited the municipal sector to continue to work with the Ministry on this challenging matter.
For additional information, contact:
Laurent Mougeot
Chief Executive Officer
Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association
306-525-3727 (office)
LMougeot@suma.org
