Saskatoon city council passes one of highest property tax hikes on record at 6.7%

WATCH: After four days of meetings, Saskatoon city council approved one of the largest property tax hikes in the city’s history.

After four days of marathon meetings at City Hall, city council voted through one of the largest property tax increases in Saskatoon’s history.

Property taxes are slated to increase 6.7 per cent in 2026, with an additional hike of 5.81 per cent in 2027.

“These are hard decisions to make when you know that affordability is an issue for folks. But if it’s an issue at the grocery store; if it’s an issue at the gas tank, trust me, it’s an issue for every single thing your city does on your behalf,” Mayor Cynthia Block said after the budget was finalized.

The increases add an additional $13.18 to monthly property taxes in 2026 for a home with a median assessed value of $394,200, and another $12.20 in 2027.

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After three days of meetings, council was back on Friday for an unscheduled fourth day to finalize spending. For much of the process, council worked its way through 108 ways to cut spending. Council entered Friday with a proposed property tax increase of 6.17 per cent in 2026 and 5.39 per cent in 2027.

Then additional spending measures were introduced on Friday which will see the city develop dedicated transit police working under the Saskatoon Police Service, there will be additional dispatchers hired for the Saskatoon Fire Department and other items like hiring an additional zookeeper to maintain the level of animals at the Zoo.

“I would have liked for the property taxes to be under six,” Ward 9 Coun. Bev Dubois, who voted against the budget, said. “It all goes back to when I talk all the time about the city and supporting the core services of our city.”

Council largely found savings from passing additional fees to residents in other ways. Clearing a city drain line running into your home will now cost $75 after being free for decades. Bus fares will increase, golf fees will increase and going to the landfill will cost $20, up from $15.

Water and wastewater utility rates are increasing 5.18% in 2026 and 5.14% in 2027, and Dubois wasn’t pleased with the amount of costs being passed on to residents.

“I mean, there’s a lot more increases that the citizens are getting other than the mill rate, and it adds up and they’re having a hard time paying those costs,” Dubois said. “Last year was an assessment year, and a lot of folks, their taxes went up large amounts.”

Despite the lengthy meetings and debates, Block was pleased with the process that delved into specific line items.

“I would say that that process was excellent. I mean, it basically took the business lines of every department, and that was, the folks that run those business lines come back with the options,” she said.

Many other large spending items like adjusting snow removal budgets, roadways budgets or reducing or eliminating certain recreation spending were ignored or voted down by council.

Ward 10 Coun. Zach Jeffries doesn’t believe council could have saved much more, given how the votes fell.

“I don’t think we had anyone around this table. voting to either cut or not add things that would add up to, say, another $2.5 million,” he said.

The highest property tax increase in the city’s history stands at 7.43 per cent in 2014, with 2026 slated to be the next highest increase, according to records dating back to 1987.