In his annual speech to the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) Premier Scott Moe announced Saskatchewan municipalities will receive record revenue sharing.
Overall funding under the municipal revenue sharing program will increase to a record of $278 million next fiscal year – a total increase of $27 million in 2020-21. The amount represents a nearly 11 per cent increase in 2020-21 from the current fiscal year, and is almost a 119 per cent increase from the 2007-08 fiscal year.
“This massive investment will position municipalities across Saskatchewan for the new decade of growth and to continue making key investments in their communities,” said Premier Moe. “Municipal revenue sharing has provided municipalities a stable and predictable source of provincial revenue, and I am proud to continue our commitment to supporting key local priorities that help lay the foundation for a growing Saskatchewan.”
The Government of Saskatchewan’s municipal revenue sharing program is based on three quarters of one point of the provincial sales tax (PST) revenue collected from the fiscal year two years prior to the current year. As introduced last year, $1.5 million from the total municipal revenue sharing program will also be invested in the Targeted Sector Support Initiative for municipalities. The initiative is co-managed with municipal partners to support innovative ideas from municipalities that advance priority areas, such as good governance, regional planning, and inter-community collaboration. With this announcement, Saskatchewan municipalities have overall been allocated more than $3.1 billion in provincial funding through the revenue sharing program from 2007-08 to 2020-21.
More details will be made available when the provincial budget is released.
