Saskatoon’s mayor says goodbye to 2020 and looks forward to 2021

2020 was a year that saw Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark win a second term, a year in which city council faced a deficit of more than $20 million and a year in which budgets had to be reworked over and over.

It’s definitely not how Clark thought the year would turn out.

“When we started the year in January and the way it has turned out is completely different than anybody expected,” Clark said.

But that doesn’t mean he’s not proud of how city staff, council and residents handled challenge after challenge. It meant retraining staff to abide by new protocols, and focusing on keeping basic services running — like road repairs, waste and recycling, and water and electric services.

“I’m quite proud of the work that we’ve been doing to find ways to use the innovations and technology and efficiency to adapt our city services to provide them in a way that gets maximum value for tax dollars,” Clark said.

Passing the revised 2021 operating budget meant cutting $2.5 million from the budget and it also meant reducing the capital budget by nearly $10 million. Clark says he can appreciate how residents were worried about keeping taxes low.

“There’s always concerns and people want to make sure that we’re bringing taxes down and getting the most value out of our tax dollars,” Clark said. “We have brought in the lowest increase in a decade in 2020 and now the lowest tax increase in 14 years in 2021.”

Despite the continuous challenges, Clark says he’s proud of the city’s economic growth strategy, new partnerships with Indigenous communities and a greater focus on community safety.

Look ahead to 2021

While city administration and council did their best to estimate what exactly the 2020 deficit would be, it’s still not clear what the final tally will be. And there’s also a lot of uncertainty about balancing the 2021 budget.

“We’re facing this unprecedented situation (with COVID-19) and the impact that the pandemic has had and the restrictions and the steps everyone has had to take on our operating budget, and that will affect the timeline for some of the projects that we have underway,” Clark said.

The timelines for things like the downtown entertainment district will have to be adjusted as well, he said.

He’s also hoping the city will be able to prepare for “what the other side” of COVID-19 looks like.

“We’re going to really have to be pinching our pennies and being very careful in terms of our spending, especially in 2021 and 2022 to ensure that we’re in a good fiscal position going through this,” he said.

The good news is that Saskatoon actually is in a stable fiscal position, Clark said.

“We’re one of a few cities in Canada that has a Triple A credit rating and we have gone into this pandemic in a very sound financial position that I think positions us well to be able to get through it while continuing to keep up quality of life,” he said.

According to administration, there is anywhere from $180 million to $200 million in city reserves.

As for Clark’s message for Saskatonians over the holidays? He’s extremely grateful to residents who have found ways to support one another, other local businesses and community organizations.

“To see the strong Saskatoon spirit come alive, it has been something that has been very inspiring for me throughout this experience to make me really believe our community and believe in our future,” he said.