REGINA - The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling out the City of North Battleford for having the third highest spending per person compared to other small and medium-sized cities in the province in 2021.
According to its numbers on municipal spending that were released Thursday, North Battleford spent $2,989 per person in 2021. That amounts to expenses of $41,355,367 divided by a population of 13,836.
Of the 14 cities in that list of smaller communities, only Swift Current and Yorkton are higher, at 3,741 and 3,108 per person respectively. As for Saskatchewan’s two largest cities, Saskatoon spent $3,161 per person and Regina spent $2,761.
CTF notes the average Saskatchewan city spent $2,635 per person. Martensville spent the lowest at $1,794 per person.
“City taxpayers need to ask councillors why they are spending more per person than almost every other city in the province,” said Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director of the CTF, in a statement.
“Other cities have shown it can be done for less, North Battleford needs to get rid of its spending problem.”
The numbers released by CTF are based on financial statements obtained by the CTF through freedom of information requests.
The release of the numbers coincided with an online database going online at the CTF website, where people can view and compare PDFs of municipal financial statements from 2020 and 2021. Haubrich said taxpayers can find out if they are getting value for their dollars.
“Taxpayers pay the bills and we deserve to know how municipal politicians spend our money.”
SASKTODAY.ca has contacted the City of North Battleford for a response. City Manager Randy Patrick has issued this statement:
“The City of North Battleford has unique spending priorities that are vastly different from other municipalities’ priorities. For example, as a City, North Battleford spends more per resident on Community Safety than most communities. As the hub location for the region’s premiere recreational facilities, the City, and by extension, its residents, provides services to numerous communities. These recreational facilities are unparalleled in other similarly-sized communities. Interestingly, the City’s spending in 2017 as compared to 2021 has overall increased from $41,355,367 to $41,431,386 – which equates to about $6.00 per resident. In addition, in 2021, the City incurred an additional cost of approximately $1 million for RCMP expenses or the equivalency of $72 per person.”
