The proposed budget could mean hundreds more in annual taxes for the average Regina taxpayer.
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The average Regina taxpayer may be on the hook for about $320 more in annual taxes if the city’s proposed 2025 budget is approved by council as is.
The draft budget includes a mill-rate increase of 8.5 per cent, which is nearly triple that of 2024’s and would be the largest increase seen in the last 10 years.
“Past budgets prioritized maintaining low mill rate increases over fully covering the cost of civic operations, and relied on other revenue streams,” reads a report going before executive committee Wednesday.
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“That approach is no longer sustainable or responsible.”
In its preliminary budget summary, city administration also recommends an increase of the utility rate of 5.82 per cent. Both proposed increases would translate into an estimated $204 more per year in property taxes and $116 more per year on utilities in 2025.
The City of Regina calculates such estimates based on an average residential property assessed at a value of $315,000 and an average utility account using 15 cubic metres of water per month.
Administration’s report notes a number of pressures at play, including larger funding asks from city partners like the Regina Police Service (RPS) and “remarkably high inflation” on capital projects and core services.
The cost to deliver city services has increased by 7.9 per cent since 2020 but mill-rate increases for operations have not kept pace, having only increased by 1.2 per cent in the same time frame, according to administration.
City council will conduct final budget deliberations in mid-March.
In 2024, council approved a mill-rate increase of 2.85 per cent, down from 5.5 per cent originally proposed by administration. The council at the time cited concerns about increasing taxes on residents during an affordability crisis.
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Tax increases in past city budgets have averaged three per cent per year since 2020 and around four per cent between 2020 and 2015.
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Of the overall proposed mill-rate increase for 2025, 1.9 per cent would go toward civic operations, 2.25 per cent to the RPS and 2.21 per cent to the Regina Exhibition Association Ltd. (REAL), which operates the REAL District, including Mosaic Stadium.
Dedicated mill rates that were approved by council in 2024, comprise another two per cent. These include a 1.34-per-cent increase to fund the east-side Water Network Expansion project and 0.5 per cent for the Lawson replacement.
Saskatoon city council also faced budget pressures in 2024, ultimately passing a mill-rate increase of six per cent for that year and pre-approving a 5.64-per-cent increase for 2025.
— with files from Alec Salloum and the Julia Peterson, Saskatoon StarPhoenix
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