Yorkton and Melville are among the highest ranking cities in the province in per-person spending. According to a report published by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), both cities made the top five. The Canada-wide advocacy group shared its findings on Thursday, suggesting that Yorkton and Melville are spending a disproportionately high amount of public funds. “The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on both Yorkton and Melville to rein in expenses after spending more per person than most other Saskatchewan cities in 2024,” the press release sent to CTV News read. The group noted that the “average Saskatchewan city spent $2,912 per person” in 2024. Making record investments Yorkton exceeded this average by almost $400, ranking third on CTF’s per-person spending list with $3,298. Melville ranked fifth at $3,129. Yorkton’s director of finance, Ashley Stradeski, said the figure aligns with the amount of development projects the city has undertaken in recent years. “We’ve been making record investments in our infrastructure facilities around town,” Stradeski told CTV News on Thursday. Yorkton’s 2024 investment projects included reconstruction work on York Road, water main replacement on McBurney Drive, and upgrades to water facilities. “When we make a big infrastructure investment, such as the construction on York Road, that would be reflected in these numbers,” Stradeski explained. “So the report itself is right. But you have to ask the question, what drives the numbers behind it?” He added that many of the capital projects are funded by savings and grants. “The York Road construction project in the past had provincial government funding as well as part of that. And so that adds to our spending that doesn’t necessarily tie into [municipal] taxation,” he said. Stradeski noted the city’s most recently announced cash injections into capital projects will be reflected in future numbers. “[The wastewater plant] is going to be probably the biggest spend we’ve ever done in our lives. It’s a massive project for Yorkton, and I think it’s a positive project, but it will reflect in those numbers as spending, and it’s going to drive it up.” ‘Not apples to apples’ Stradeski thinks that when looking at reports like CTF’s city per-person list, context matters. “It’s not apples to apples because every municipality has different services they offer and different things they do,” he said. One example he pointed to was Warman and Martensville, municipalities ranking lower on the list, that buy water from nearby Saskatoon. “That’s less spending because they’re not operating those plants,” he said. Smaller tax base for Melville Forty kilometres from Yorkton on Highway 10 lies another municipality that ranked high in the Canadian Taxpayers Federation report: Melville. Its mayor, Joe Kirwan, said he was not surprised to learn about his city’s fifth-place ranking with $3,129 in per-person spending. “It’s not surprising that they would find that we spend a little bit more per capita than the larger cities,” Mayor Kirwan told CTV News. Like Stradeski, he also added that context matters when interpreting the figures. “I don’t quarrel with the Taxpayer Federation’s numbers. I’m not sure they’re in context.” As an example, he highlighted Melville’s small tax base compared to larger cities. “A block of paving costs the same here as it does in Saskatoon. We’ve got a smaller tax base,” Kirwan explained. Similar to Yorkton, Melville also upgraded its infrastructure in 2024 — mainly its road system — while construction of the city’s wastewater treatment plant was also underway. “We just completed two significantly huge infrastructure issues here: the wastewater treatment plant and the new landfill. They were combined about $17 million,” Melville’s mayor said. Responding to the figures published by CTF, the mayor said he will bring the report to council for consideration during Melville’s upcoming budget discussions. Kirwan said his council is committed to transparency and invited the public to review Melville’s budget. “If you want to see our budgets, they are online. We have open council meetings. We will answer any questions that you may have,” he said. The same offer was made by the City of Yorkton.
