Resolutions

Whereas revenue sharing was originally called the Municipal Operating Grant, and designed to offer municipalities with financial assistance in providing services that also served a provincial interest; and

Whereas it was determined by Premier Brad Wall that one point of the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) provided approximately enough revenue to municipalities to fund the identified provincial interests; and

Whereas since revenue sharing was put in place, the province has continued to download additional responsibilities onto Saskatchewan hometowns; and

Whereas the province has also stripped additional sources of funding away from hometowns, through a cancellation of the grants-in-lieu programs, reductions in funding for urban parks and highway connectors, and holds on programs such as the Community Rink Affordability Grant and Main Street Saskatchewan;

Therefore be it resolved that the SUMA advocate the Government of Saskatchewan to include all expanded PST revenues from changes in the 2017-18 provincial budget, in the calculation for municipal revenue sharing.

In times of fiscal constraint it is necessary for government to consider all its revenue sources and areas of expenditures, adjusting as necessary to ensure continued balance. Our Government has had to make difficult choices in order to return to fiscal balance, while still ensuring sufficient funding for key public services such as health, education, and infrastructure. It is through continued fiscal responsibility that Saskatchewan has been able to set out a realistic plan to return to balanced budgets while most other jurisdictions in Canada are expected to continue to incur budget deficits. We will be consulting with SARM and SUMA throughout the year.