Municipal Tax Ratio Policy

City Council approved a new tax ratio of 1.59 on March 27, 2017. The ratio used to be 1.75. The Standing Policy Committee on Finance previously reviewed recommendations on the City’s property tax policy on March 6, 2017.  

The City’s annual budget determines how much it will need to ask from property owners to pay for services like garbage pick up or snow clearing.

The tax ratio policy determines how the taxes needed to cover those costs are split up; or putting it another way, what share of the taxes that different property classes like residential and commercial will pay. 

The approved ratio of 1.59 means that for every $1.00 in property taxes that a residential property pays, a commercial property will pay $1.59 on an equivalent assessment.

Below, is what the new ratio looks like compared to the previous:

This tax ratio shift has not affected Saskatoon's standing as having some of the lowest property taxes among Canadian prairie cities. 

The tax policy  approved at the March 27, 2017 City Council meeting will facilitate the compilation of the mill rate bylaws which will be tabled at the April 24, 2017 City Council meeting.