A tease into the City of Regina’s 2027 financial plans is underway, as city council held its first pre-budget meeting Tuesday. Council was presented a breakdown of its 2027 preliminary budget forecast for its general operations and services. The purpose of the meeting is to provide a better understanding of the financial pressures the city will face next year, and where increases in tax-supported revenue and service cuts are needed to help fill the gap. That’s in addition to maintaining the City Council’s Strategic Imperative – focused on keeping property taxes within the lowest 25 per cent among comparator municipalities. As part of administration’s presentation for the city’s preliminary 2027 General Operating Budget, an estimated $44.7 million increase in tax-supported operating expenses are needed to maintain Regina’s current service levels and existing civic services. As such, a mill rate increase of 11.9 per cent was projected. However, administration noted a series of revenue enhancements and reserve adjustments could reduce the mill rate to as low as 5.81 per cent. “Before council introduces any kind of mill rate increase, there is typically a year-over-year basis [for] increase in revenue in municipal property taxes - due to changes in the assessment roll,” explained Jeff May, director for the city’s financial planning and analysis. “This is new properties coming onto the assessment roll. This is existing properties where they have their assessment redone because you’ve added a new deck so now your house is more valuable. This is the result of that natural growth.” On top of the forecasted increased in property tax revenue of $8.4 million, May explained cuts to services will also help bring the mill rate to 5.81. Without any service reductions the preliminary forecast mill rate would be 7.01 per cent. “Now Council’s Strategic Imperative, which asks us to stay within the lowest, the bottom 25 per cent of our comparator cities, means that we need to cap our mill rate increase off at 5.81 per cent,” May said. “So to get there, these are just preliminary ideas from administration. This is not a recommendation. This is just a suggestion of what we could do.” Councillors shared their thoughts of the report, along with what sections they would prefer to see additional information focused on come budget week in December. “Last year’s budget was a great exercise in looking at what it takes to run a city and what the consequences are for cutting services that residents are used to,” said Ward 6 Councillor Victoria Flores. “Based on the numbers that I’m seeing in front of me, what the city spends the bulk of its money is on the basics,” Flores explained. “The majority of the money in our budget goes to things like transportation, safety, roadways and infrastructure. To make any meaningful reductions, it would have to be from those big buckets. And I don’t know that there are many residents that want to see any further reductions in the basic amenities a city should provide.” Regina city council will continue discussions as part of its preliminary budget forecast meetings on September 8.
