News Releases

There is still a lot of snow on the ground, which can lead to street and property flooding if temperatures rise quickly and the snow melts quickly.

Residents can reduce their risk of property flooding by moving snow away from their foundation and ensuring there is a drainage path to the nearest catch basin on the road. If safe, you are encouraged to clear ice and debris clogging the catch basin on your street for proper water flow away from your home and neighbourhood.

City crews are removing snow from catch basins at high-risk locations and defrosting those that aren’t draining properly. As roads dry up, we are re-grading utility cuts and filling potholes with cold-mix asphalt.

Helpful flood reduction tips for homeowners:

• Remove melting snow from your foundation and window wells.
• Make sure sump pumps are working properly and are draining away from your foundation.
• Clean and extend downspouts at least two metres from your home.

There are still some properties with frozen water pipes from the extended cold weather over the past few weeks, which are being addressed. This issue is not expected to continue with warm temperatures in the forecast.

Please remember to keep snow on your property, it is illegal to push snow on to the road. Call our Customer Care Centre at 306-975-2476 if you have flooding in your home or neighbourhood; visit saskatoon.ca/snowmelt to learn more.

Year-end financials for the 2018 fiscal year yield a budget deficit of $ 3.02 million – a 0.62% variance of the overall $490.63 million City budget.

“The deficit was largely due to greater costs overall for items such as fuel and solid waste handling, as City revenues were slightly under what we targeted,” says Clae Hack, Director of Finance.

A report to the Standing Policy Committee on Finance details a 0.01% or $475,000 negative variance for revenue, while expenditures were overspent by 0.52% or $2.54 million.  A summary of some of the significant variances include:

• Waste Handling Services had a $1.4 million deficit with $328,000 related to shortfalls in revenues and approximately $1.0 million related to over expenditures, which is consistent with base budget challenges that have been previously presented.
• Parking ticket revenue experienced a $1.37 million deficit largely related to the effectiveness of the new parking system and online application.
• Despite an improvement in transit ridership and revenue, Saskatoon Transit ended 2018 with an approximate $1.2 million deficit. Almost half of the over expenditures of nearly $500,000 were largely related to higher fuel and diesel prices than originally estimated.
• Facilities Management had a $1.4 million deficit mostly related to expenditures for the first full year of operation of the Remai Modern, implementation of a new call-out program, snow removal, corporate security and graffiti management.
• Leisure Centre admission revenues experienced a $503,000 deficit due to lower admissions then originally budgeted.

These negative variances were offset largely by an additional $2.0 million in provincial revenue as a result of the reinstatement of the SaskEnergy grant-in-lieu, and a $750,000 surplus in Traffic Violation revenue from higher than anticipated volumes.

Civic utilities had the following surpluses and deficits:

• Saskatoon Light & Power $799,000 surplus
• Storm Water Management Utility $286,400 surplus
• Waste Water Utility $ 17,300 surplus
• Water Utility $1.41 million deficit
• Waste Services Utility $0

These surpluses and deficits have been transferred to or funded by, the applicable stabilization reserve as stipulated in Council Policy No. C03-003, Reserve for Future Expenditures.

The City’s Boards and the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) all posted surpluses in 2018. SPS posted a surplus of $158,800 which is incorporated within the civic year-end results. SaskTel Centre has a preliminary surplus of $2.40 million, while TCU Place and Remai Modern reported a $1.07 million and $1,000 surplus respectively.

Visit saskatoon.ca/budget for related financial information.

Interested in how many electric vehicles are on Saskatoon streets; the amount of solar power production in the community; and the population density increase? Details on all of these performance indicators and more are now available as the City has just completed a major expansion of the Environmental Dashboard—adding nearly a dozen new indicators including:

• waste production;
• community solar power production;
• the number of on-street electric vehicles; and
• fuel use by City vehicles. 

“The Environmental Dashboard provides important information to citizens and City staff and officials as we all work together to make our community more sustainable. Two of the City’s seven strategic goals are environmental leadership and sustainable growth,” says Amber Weckworth, Manager of Education and Environmental Programs in the City’s Sustainability Division.

“City Council has set targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, waste diversion, active transport, and other measures of sustainability. The newly expanded Environmental Dashboard can help us gauge our progress toward those goals and targets.”

The Environmental Dashboard contains information, data, and graphs on key indicators of environmental health and sustainability. Each indicator page includes information about what the City is doing to increase sustainability–programs and initiatives to decrease GHG emissions, conserve water, divert waste, and increase production of renewable energy. 

Residents are encouraged to frequent the Dashboard, as current indicators are continuously updated and additional indicators will be added over the coming months. 

To learn more about Saskatoon’s air, water, land, energy, and waste performance indicators, visit the newly expanded Environmental Dashboard: saskatoon.ca/envirodashboard.

The City of Saskatoon has been selected as one of ‘Canada’s Best Diversity Employers’ for 2019 by Mediacorp Canada Inc.

“We are honoured to receive this award for the eighth consecutive year as we place a high priority on creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees are valued and respected for their individual identities and contributions,” says Sarah Cameron, Chief Human Resources Officer.

The City of Saskatoon was selected based on exceptional workplace diversity and inclusiveness programs offered.  Highlights include:

• introducing mandatory Aboriginal Awareness training for employees, including a Truth and Reconciliation Resource Kit to enable ongoing learning
• facilitating employee understanding through a variety of training workshops such as Fundamentals of Cultural Competency, Understanding Invisible Disabilities and Inclusive Practices for LGBTQ2S Identities
• collaborating with Saskatoon Skills and Trades Centre to design and deliver pre-employment training to Indigenous candidates interested in custodian and labourer positions.

Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2019 are outlined in the March 1, 2019 edition of The Globe and Mail, as well as on Canada's Best Diversity Employers website.

The City has a long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion, and as Saskatoon’s population continues to grow and diversify it is imperative that we recruit and retain a workforce that represents and understands our citizens.        

Through the Smart Cities Challenge, the Government of Canada has tasked communities of all sizes to come forward with their best ideas to improve the lives of their residents through innovation, data and connected technology.  A smart city enables its citizens to use technology to make smart decisions.

In April 2018, Saskatoon submitted an initial proposal and was selected as one of the finalists for a chance to win $10 million (category: communities with populations under 500,000), to be used for implementing all aspects of a proposed plan.

Saskatoon’s final proposal, ConnectYXE, brings together innovative technology and partnerships to break the cycle of Indigenous youth incarceration by creating a new cycle focused on building purpose, belonging, security and identity.

“For the last eight months we have been working closely with the project’s Indigenous Youth Advisory Group, community-based organizations (CBOs), institutional partner organizations, and the technology community,” says Lynne Lacroix, Acting General Manager of Community Services. “We learned from those who have the most experience and the most at stake, what can make a difference in their lives.  We built our proposal around that.”

ConnectYXE is based on three pillars:

Empowerment of Indigenous youth and their families: providing real-time information and options for how to access services throughout the city, every day, all day.

Collaboration among partners: creating a repository of data of all relevant programs and services available throughout Saskatoon.

Harnessing innovative technology: connecting systems, sharing data and leveraging artificial intelligence.  The collective data in ConnectYXE will provide a city-wide picture of what is available and the demands on those supports at any time.  This enables CBOs, institutional partners, and decision-makers to regularly analyze and to identify gaps, trends, and better ways to respond.

“A whole-of-community approach, with youth at the centre, is needed to address the complex challenges that urban Indigenous youth face,” says Mayor Charlie Clark.  “These challenges are rooted in historical injustices, intergenerational trauma, and racism.”

The final proposal was submitted yesterday.  The Government of Canada will announce the winning communities in late Spring 2019.

To learn more:

• Smart Cities Challenge:  Government of Canada's Challenge website 
• Saskatoon’s proposal: saskatoon.ca/smartcities
• ConnectYXE video:  youtube.com/saskatooncitynews 
• Join the conversation on social media using hashtag #smartcitiesCanada

The City wishes to thank the Indigenous Youth Advisory Group, community allies and institutional partners for their commitment and support of this project. Institutional partners include:  Central Urban Métis Federation, Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, Saskatoon Health Authority, Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Saskatoon Police Service, Saskatoon Public School Division, Saskatoon Tribal Council, United Way of Saskatoon and area, and the University of Saskatchewan.