(File Photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Melfort Budget

Budget talks continue in Melfort, council looking at 1.8 per cent average tax increase

Mar 20, 2021 | 8:00 AM

The City of Melfort is getting closer to approving their 2021 General Operating Budget.

At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Friday, March 19, council was presented with three options to balance the budget which sits at just over $312,000. All three options proposed all $200,000 of the 2020 surplus go towards that deficit, use another $50,000 from the mill rate stabilization fund, and the rest will be funded by either increased base tax or mill rates. The possible increases were 1.72, 2.00, and 2.72 per cent.

However, council has now presented another option for administration to calculate. That option would see a 1.8 per cent average tax increase while using $150,000 of the surplus, and just over $77,000 of the mill rate stabilization fund. Coun. Trent Mitchell said with it being a re-valuation year in Saskatchewan, it’s made these calculations more complicated, but, as with most years, residents will see varying numbers for their taxes.

“Some people, if their properties changed in valuation, they may see a significantly larger tax increase,” he said. “If somebody’s property devalued, they may see a reduction in their taxes.”

Mitchell said that 1.8 per cent tax increase equates to around $85,000 to the City of Melfort’s bottom line, and he said that money is essentially being used to fund the infrastructure fund that would help fix water lines in the city, which has been a hot button topic over the years.

Freedom and Flexibility

How App-Based Work Creates Economic Opportunity

Dec 12, 2025

Riderville

Now for the Hard Part

Dec 10, 2025

Seniors Scene

Christmas is Coming

Dec 09, 2025

“We know there’s some pretty rough roads, and in order to fix those roads, we have to fix what’s under them first,” Mitchell said. “So, that’s what that fund is being built for.”

With the reassessment year, commercial properties saw an average of about a 26 per cent increase, according to treasurer Sandy Peterson, while residential actually saw a small decrease in valuation. That has lead administration to try and find different ways to “smooth out” the tax burden throughout the city.

“When that happens, we have to ensure that we’re having the same amount of tax,” Peterson told northeastNOW. “By changing some of our mill rate factors and decreasing the mill rate.”

The 1.8 per cent tax increase option will be presented at the next meeting as details of it are ironed out by administration. It’s expected that tax notices will likely go out sometime in May.

“We’re working really hard to make the tax increase as low as we possibly can,” said mayor Glenn George.

The 2020 average tax increase was 2.07 per cent.

–

mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6