News Releases

The City of Saskatoon is closing to the public all its facilities including City Hall; this follows the provincial government declaration of a public emergency for COVID-19 (coronavirus).

“While we are closed to the public, our business operations will continue to provide essential services for our residents as much as possible,” says City Manager Jeff Jorgenson.

Jorgenson says this move is an important preventative measure. It will help slow the rate of COVID-19 infection in Saskatoon and protect City staff, as well as vulnerable populations, which include seniors and people with compromised immune systems.

The City reminds the public that we offer many online services which are listed at: www.saskatoon.ca/onlineservices

“We continue to work with internal and external partners, including the Saskatchewan Health Authority, the Ministry of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada on a proactive approach to deal with COVID-19,” Jorgenson says. 

The City continues to thank its staff and citizens for their patience and support. Jorgenson says as City leaders continue to respond to a rapidly evolving situation meanwhile promising to provide information as it becomes available.
The provincial health ministry encourages everyone to be mindful of good hand hygiene, cough etiquette and social distancing. For those who have risk factors such as old age, or underlying health issues, medical experts encourage those people to stay away from crowded areas.

The City of Saskatoon continues to encourage the community to reach out to those most vulnerable to COVID-19 and to those organizations that assist with our vulnerable homeless population.  

We are constantly reassessing the situation to ensure the safety and well-being of staff and residents.  We will also continue to reassess the way we deliver services to the public in order to keep staff and residents safe when we are out in the community.

Updates will continue to be provided at saskatoon.ca/covid-19 and at saskatoonpolice.ca

The 2018 public engagement results are in and residents’ perceptions about the quality of life in Saskatoon remain strong: overall satisfaction with the quality of services and value provided by the City remain high. 

 “While there is important room to improve, the results of these surveys are very encouraging and show a strong quality of life in our community,” said Mayor Charlie Clark. “This is a testament not only to the work of City of Saskatoon employees, but also of the broader community who help to improve our community and add to the richness of Saskatoon.”

This year the City developed a more comprehensive process to gather input into the 2020-2021 Multi-Year Budget. Instead of one survey, the City developed the Civic Satisfaction & Performance Survey and the Civic Services: Performance, Priorities and Preferences Survey. Input was gathered from approximately 4,000 participants through the two surveys and community outreach activities. Findings from these engagement activities will provide Council and Administration with public input to be used to inform the 2020-2021 Multi-Year Budget.

 “More than we ever have before, the City has been emphasizing the importance of engaging and working with the community as we sort through some of the complex and important issues in a changing city and a changing world,” said Mayor Clark. “As we prepare for our first multi-year budget, this work and these surveys will be even more important as we seek to build on our strengths and meet the needs and expectations of our citizens that will serve us now and in the years to come.”

The following highlight key findings for Telephone (T) and Online Panel (OP) respondents:

2018 Civic Satisfaction & Performance Survey

The Civic Satisfaction & Performance Survey was completed June 29 to July 29, 2018, through randomly selected Telephone (n=505) and Online Panel (n=801) residents.  The margin of error for telephone is +/- 4.36% and online is +/-3.46%, 19 times out of 20.  The survey was also made available for the general public to participate (n=688).

• Overall, residents say they are satisfied living in the city (T: 88%, OP: 85%)
• Overall, residents feel the quality of life is good or very good (T: 85%, OP: 83%).
• For telephone respondents, the most important issues facing the City include road construction (11%), taxes (6%) and traffic infrastructure, and public transit (5%). Although road construction is still most frequently mentioned, it has steadily decreased in importance for these respondents each year (2016: 32%, 2017: 20%). For online respondents, the most important issue facing the City is public safety/crime/policing (17%), taxes (13%) and infrastructure (8%). These results remain similar to 2017.
• The majority are satisfied with the quality of services provided by the City (T: 86%, OP: 77%).  Telephone results are consistent with 2017, with online results decreasing by 8%.
• Overall, residents rate the value of services they receive from the City as good/very good (T: 89%, OP: 74%). This is mostly consistent with 2017, with a 5% increase among telephone respondents.
• The Strategic Goal indicators that received the highest ratings include: the City is effectively providing a good mix of recreation, sport and cultural facilities year round     (T: 92%, OP: 91%), the City is effectively providing online services (T: 91%, O: 88%) and Saskatoon is an inclusive and welcoming city to all (T: 86%, OP: 73%).
• Consistent with previous years, 35% of respondents prefer a combination of both property tax and user fee increases to balance the budget.

2018 Civic Services Survey: Performance, Priorities and Preferences  

The Civic Services Survey: Performance, Priorities and Preferences was completed November 16 to December 16, 2018, through randomly selected Telephone (n=504) and Online Panel (n=800) residents. The survey was also made available for the general public to participate (n=590). The margin of error for telephone is +/- 4.37% and online is +/-3.46%, 19 times out of 20.  The survey was also made available for the general public to participate (n=688).

• Overall satisfaction with performance remains the same or higher for almost all 29 civic services.
• The top three services where participants reported the highest satisfaction are: reliability of electrical services (T: 8.7, OP: 8.9), quality of drinking water (T: 8.4, OP: 8.6) and Fire Protection (T: 8.4, OP: 8.4)
• Overall, the key strengths have remained the same since 2017: reliability of electrical services, quality of drinking water, fire protection, police service, garbage collection, speed of water main break repairs and recycling.
• The top three services where residents indicate they would like the City to provide more service include: road maintenance (T: 59%, OP: 61%), affordable housing programs (T: 54%, OP: 55%), and snow & ice management (T: 46%, OP: 52%).
• The vast majority of residents believe that the City of Saskatoon is very/somewhat good at providing meaningful opportunities to participate in engagement activities (T: 87%, OP: 79%).  A majority also believe the City is doing very/somewhat well at using public input to help make decisions (T: 68%, OP: 55%).  

The City also conducted a variety of community outreach activities in 2018. Approximately 130 individuals participated over three events to validate the results of a selected number of questions from the survey, and to provide additional rationale for their ratings. 

Citizen input has always been an important part of the City’s business planning and budget process. Explore saskatoon.ca/engage, or view additional financial information at saskatoon.ca/budget.

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.