Saskatoon seeks public input on future property tax policy

The City of Saskatoon is launching a fall public survey to gather input on its future tax policy.

It focuses on the way municipal property tax revenue is shared between residential and non-residential properties.

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Non-residential properties, sometimes called commercial properties, include agricultural land, pipelines, elevators, railways, and industrial properties.

Since 2025, the tax ratio has been set at 1.71:1.

“This means that for every $1 in property tax paid by a residential property owner, a non-residential property owner pays $1.71 on an equivalent assessment,” the city wrote in a news release.

The ratio approach divides the total municipal property tax requirement between the property classes.

Right now, commercial properties make up roughly “21 per cent of the total assessed value in Saskatoon but pay about 32 per cent of the total property tax,” according to the City of Saskatoon’s website.

In dollar amounts, this works out to roughly $244 million from residential properties and $115 million from non-residential.

Since the tax requirement is fixed, lowering one property type’s tax share automatically raises the other. Therefore, it’s a division of a fixed amount. The city’s total tax revenue doesn’t change with tax policy.

Instead, according to the release, tax policy can help manage changes in this ratio, “as a result of reassessment,” with all Saskatchewan property types getting reassessed in 2029.

Finding the right balance in this ratio is one of the survey’s central focuses.

“Public input received on tax policy principles, goals and trade-offs will help the City understand community priorities, including where residential and non-residential property owner perspectives align and where they differ,” the city wrote.

That also includes how residential and non-residential property owners will share the tax.

The project won’t affect the city’s budget process, individual property assessments, service levels, or appeals.

Saskatoon’s tax policy Engage page is open, giving residents and stakeholders background information and a summary of the project, “including the areas where public input will be considered,” according to the release.

The survey opens online in October 2026, and paper copies will be available.

People will be able to fill it out from 10 p.m. on Oct. 1 to 10:59 p.m. on Oct. 30, while printed versions must be returned by Oct. 23.

Afterward, a review of the information collected in these surveys will take place through November and December, before a report is shared with city council.

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