Saskatoon Minute: Issue 133

Saskatoon Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Saskatoon politics

📅 This Week In Saskatoon: 📅

• The Governance and Priorities Committee will meet on Wednesday at 9:30 am, and its agenda includes a recommendation from Administration to make the City's share of the Outdoor Washroom Project a permanent part of the operating budget. The project, a City-owned two-stall washroom trailer and two-stall shower trailer on a site provided by Central Urban Métis Federation Inc., has so far been paid for with one-time money from the Reserve for Capital Expenditures, which has required a new funding decision every year. Administration wants $241,500 added to the 2027 budget for November's deliberations, covering the City's half of roughly $432,000 in Peacekeeper security and of $21,000 in site and utility costs, plus $15,000 for repairs. Four Peacekeepers staff the site per shift, 24 hours a day, from May to October, with the Province paying the other half. The 2027 budget will also include $30,000 a year for repairs at the City-owned women's daytime and overnight drop-in at 130 Idylwyld Drive North, which is expected to open November 1st and will be leased to the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation. Council could instead keep funding the washrooms year to year from capital, but Administration argues annual funding would make the City's homelessness spending more predictable.
  
  
• The Governance and Priorities Committee will also discuss a set of proposed changes to how Saskatoon runs its elections. The City Clerk's Office wants nomination day moved from five weeks to six weeks before election day, giving staff more time to program and print ballots, test tabulators, and send out mail-in ballots. In by-elections, the Returning Officer could decide case by case to count ballots by hand and use a manual voters list instead of tabulators and an electronic list, a choice Administration says could save money and that would be reported to Council. Ballots from special, mobile, and other advance polls without a tabulator could be fed into tabulators before election night once 100 or more are cast, with candidates able to watch, though no results would be produced until polls close. Poll workers would also be able to send unofficial vote counts electronically from polling stations over a private network after voting ends, with tabulators and ballots still returned for verification before official results are declared.
  
  
• The Board of Police Commissioners will meet on Thursday at 1:00 pm, and among the items on its agenda are the Saskatoon Police Service's 2027 operating and capital budget submissions. The Service is asking for a net operating budget of $149,960,250, an increase of $7,724,350, or 5.4%, over 2026, which it estimates would mean a 2.2% mill rate impact. Total spending would rise 6.2% to $167,762,450, with compensation alone climbing $8,113,450 to $131,097,850. The request adds 33 full-time positions for a total of 838.7, including 13 provincially funded constables, four patrol sergeants, four transit policing constables, and new staff in communications, digital disclosure, and records. The Service points to a 41% rise in calls for service between 2019 and 2025 and a 78% increase in weapon calls since 2019. A separate $3,852,000 capital budget, mostly for replacing radios, equipment, and technology, is fully funded from reserves, though the Service warns of capital budget pressures in future years. The estimates are unchanged from those the Board saw in fall 2025, apart from the addition of the Transit Policing Program approved by City Council.
  
  
• The City's Planning, Development and Community Services Committee unanimously endorsed $160,000 for a tiny home pilot project run by the Central Urban Métis Federation Inc., with the money coming from Saskatoon's Affordable Housing Reserve. The Committee also backed a five-year property tax break worth $54,327.90. Federation President Shirley Isbister said 16 men would live in the homes at 1520 19th Street West in Pleasant Hill, with social service dollars covering their rent and utilities. Each home will be about 160 square feet, with a kitchenette, a bathroom, a bed, and a desk. Residents must stay free of alcohol and drugs because the site is near a school and family housing, and a director will help them find work or education. City Housing and Homelessness Manager Sarah King said units permitted before the end of the year would count toward the City's target for federal Housing Accelerator Fund money, and that the City remains 222 units short with a December 31st deadline. City Council must still approve the project, and Isbister said residents could move in by late December or January once permits are issued.
  
  
• City officials are preparing a regulatory framework that would allow horse-drawn carriage businesses to operate on Saskatoon streets. The proposed rules would require drivers to hold a Class 5 licence, follow traffic regulations, leave adequate room for cyclists, and clean up after their horses. The framework follows a pilot project with former NHL player Rich Pilon, who offers horse-drawn wagon rides through his organization, Horses & Hockey, Let's Talk, after spending more than two years seeking approval to operate in the city. His temporary licence came with conditions on passenger safety, equipment, animal welfare, operating hours and which streets he could use. The City says a formal framework would set clear standards for businesses and protect both people and animals. Montreal took the opposite approach, banning commercial horse-drawn carriage tours in 2020 over concerns about horses being injured or distressed. The framework would need City Council's approval before taking effect.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

What do you think of Saskatoon’s proposal to allow horse-drawn carriage businesses to operate on city streets under a new set of regulations? Should the City allow these businesses to operate with rules governing traffic safety and animal welfare, or are there concerns that make commercial horse-drawn rides unsuitable for city streets?

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