News Releases

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.

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.

Following a formal Request For Proposals for the lease to operate the Farmers’ Market Building in River Landing issued in October, 2018, the City will not be awarding a lease and the RFP is now cancelled.

During the RFP process, it became apparent that ongoing water issues with the roof on the building will require significant repairs, and as such, the building will need to close for approximately three months to accommodate those repairs. During the RFP process, the City received two applications and it thanks the parties that submitted a proposal. However, awarding the lease to a tenant, only to close the building for a lengthy period, would be unfair.

The City has offered to extend the lease of the current tenant through the 2019 growing season, and the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Cooperative (SFMCL) has agreed to stay on, in which case the building will remain open until December 31, 2019, when the lease with the SFMCL will end. Closure of the building and subsequent repairs to the roof would take place in early 2020.

Requests For Proposals will now be required for the work to design solutions and then repair the building’s roof. Future operations of the building will be explored in the coming months.

For the eighth consecutive year, the City of Saskatoon has been selected as one of Saskatchewan’s 2019 Top Employers. The competition recognizes Saskatchewan employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work.

“The success of everything we do at the City of Saskatoon depends on the expertise, skills and commitment of our employees. That’s why we will continue to focus on employee engagement and creating a welcoming workplace where all people are encouraged to realize their potential,” says Chief Human Resources Officer Sarah Cameron.

“As Saskatoon continues to grow and become more culturally diverse so does our need to interact effectively with people of different cultures. Last year we introduced mandatory Indigenous awareness training for all employees and leadership training to build intercultural competency so that we can better serve all citizens of Saskatoon,” Cameron says.

The City of Saskatoon was evaluated on eight criteria, the same used for the Canada Top 100 Employer’s competition: (1) Physical Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social; (3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation & Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Performance Management; (7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community Involvement.

Employers are compared with other organizations in their field to determine which ones offer the most progressive and forward-thinking programs.

The Saskatchewan’s 2019 Top Employers are highlighted in today’s Saskatoon StarPhoenix and Regina Leader-Post. 

Approximately 90 percent of glass is broken by the time it is sorted for recycling.

In a step to improve the amount of glass that can be recycled, a pilot program in partnership with SARCAN will enable residents to take their glass items to SARCAN depots.

“We scanned blue bin programs across Canada, and noticed that single stream collection programs may not be the most effective in recycling glass products since so much of the glass gets broken.  While less people might use a depot, the overall percentage of glass that gets recycled can actually improve”, said Amber Weckworth, Manager of Education and Environmental Performance. 

While the current Blue Bin program will still accept household glass material, residents are encouraged to ‘take it, don’t break it’ and avoid broken glass during collections by taking clean glass jars and bottles to their nearest SARCAN recycling depot.

SARCAN Locations

• East Depot – 350B-103 Street East
• North Depot – 2327 Faithfull Avenue
• South Depot – Avalon Plaza 20A - 2605 Broadway Avenue
• West Depot – 7 - 2305 22nd Street W

 What you can recycle

• Food container jars – jam, pickles, peanuts, sauces, etc.
• Beverage glass bottles
• Food glass bottles – olive oil, etc. 

The following items are not accepted in the SARCAN pilot program: excessively dirty glass; broken containers; Pyrex; ceramics; dishes; drinking glasses; carboys and jugs from homemade wine kits; mirrors; light bulbs; and glass home décor.

 What you need to know

• Glass that has no deposit paid at the time of purchase, results in no refund given at SARCAN.
• Clean glass jars and bottles before taking items to SARCAN.
• Visit sarcan.ca for more information.

For more information on recyclables, collection calendar, and waste wizard, visit: saskatoon.ca/household-glass-pilot-program.

The City Archives is pleased to be the recipient of several locally-themed collections including extensive photographic material and news clippings from the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

“This is a significant community asset and gift,” says City Archivist Jeff O’Brien.  “We are grateful to both the Provincial Archives and the StarPhoenix to have the opportunity to keep and make available at the City Archives, this vital historical resource.”

The StarPhoenix collection consists of approximately 400,000 images taken by StarPhoenix photographers.  The collection also includes clippings of the corresponding published images dating from 1948 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1986.  The material documents local news and personalities predominantly in Saskatoon, but also from surrounding communities.

In November, 2018, the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan (PAS) announced the consolidation of its holdings, resulting in the closure of the Saskatoon office, and merging of their offices and services into a single Regina location.

Following discussions with the Provincial Archives, 22 other collections important to Saskatoon will also be kept at the City Archives. The PAS transferred 1500 digital images scanned from the collection over the years. Importantly, PAS also transferred indexes for the entire collection, including 25,000 descriptions of individual photographs that the City will incorporate into its in-house archives database.

The newly acquired material arrived Monday, February 4, 2019; it includes papers of the Temperance Colonization Society, Saskatoon Prairieland Exhibition Association, Trounce Family, Billy Silverwood, R.W. Caswell, Saskatoon Board of Trade and the Mendel Art Gallery.

The City Archive works to preserve and provide access to the historical records of the City of Saskatoon, as well as to those of historically significant individuals and organizations in Saskatoon. The Archives is open to the public during business hours. Staff will also provide research assistance by post, by email or by calling 306-975-7811.