In case you are wondering how much more the City of Saskatoon has been spending since 2002, Sean Shaw has done some homework and created some visuals. The operating, capital, and debt servicing budgets have all been heading upwards. Coincidently enough, so have our taxes.
While no one likes to pay taxes, Richard Florida does point out that if they make a city more livable, most of us tolerate them if we see the value. While the Lake Placid site at River Landing hasn’t worked out, River Landing was a tremendous home to the Saskatoon Fireworks Festival and has been a wonderful gathering place for thousands of us over the summer. Infrastructure along Circle Drive created the auto mall which allowed for the redevelopment of 8th Street. I think all of us agree that this makes the city a better place to live. The question that we all struggle with is does it make it a good enough place to live to justify the year after year increase in taxes.
