MOOSE JAW — Approving the 2025 budget was a new experience for Mayor James Murdock, who highlighted the many moving pieces with the process and promised to continue learning and growing for future discussions.
“It was overwhelming at times, but to see the process to everything (was eye-opening),” Murdock said during a media scrum after council unanimously approved the budget on Jan. 27.
“Even before our municipal election (in November), I was a citizen, just like everyone, and sure, it’s easy to make a (negative) comment,” he continued. “But, when you’re actually here and you see everything and what goes into the final process … you don’t know that until you’re here.
“I have the utmost respect for the administration team that put (in) the time and effort to bring things forward to us so we can combine our thoughts to make those final decisions.”
Council approved a municipal tax hike of 5.17 per cent, which means the “average single-family residential property” will likely pay an extra $13.97 per month or $167.60 for the year.
The mill rate’s monthly and yearly increases include:
- Municipal tax hike of 3.66 per cent: $5.67 / $68.02
- Moose Jaw Police Service tax hike of 1.51 per cent: $2.34 / $28.06
- Recycling fee: 10 cents / $1.20
- Garbage fee: 31 cents / $3.72
- Water utility increase of four per cent: $3.09 / $37.08
- Wastewater utility increase of four per cent: $2.46 / $29.52
Furthermore, council approved the continuation of an annual waterworks infrastructure levy of $100 per taxable property for all property classes, except for multi-unit classes, which will have a levy of $100 on each dwelling unit within that multi-unit building.
The monthly cost to most taxpayers from this levy is roughly $8.33.
Also, council approved the continuation of an annual parks and recreation infrastructure levy of $65 per taxable property for all classes, except for multi-unit classes, which will have a levy of $65 on each dwelling unit within that multi-unit building.
The monthly cost to most taxpayers from this levy is roughly $5.41.
Asked about approving the 5.17 per cent, Murdock said council discussed many issues and worked to keep the increase “as citizen-friendly as possible.” Moreover, he thought the budget showed “a great need” for pursuing capital projects that had been neglected or put off for too long and that forced council to make decisions now.
“… but 5.17 (per cent), for some, that will be a lot, but we have to really get serious a lot about investing back in the city — and we’re doing that,” he added.
Asked about the levies as additional ongoing taxes, the mayor pointed out that everything increases in cost, but he hoped those levies would be temporary until they finished being useful.
“But we just don’t have the dollars we need to contribute to projects. And until we bring other industries into this city to help alleviate that, we all have to feel the burden,” Murdock said.
The mayor noted that he was also a citizen and understood how the budget affected people, but reiterated that council needed to make tough financial decisions. Moreover, he pointed out that many projects and taxes were already in place when this council started, so he asked for patience as this group worked to influence that process.
“We’ll try our best to alleviate strain, but for now, this is where we are this year,” he said.
Murdock added that he appreciated approving the third-party funding requests since those groups wanted to support the community and provide solutions for issues, so council gave them the opportunity to do that.
