Revenue sharing dominated the discussion Monday afternoon at the 2015 Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention.
Due to plummeting oil prices, the province is dealing with about a $600 to $800 million hole in the upcoming budget.
Last month, Premier Brad Wall mused the government may have to look at adjusting municipal revenue sharing to make up some of the shortfall.
He has been taken to task for the statements by a number of municipal leaders including SUMA President Debra Button.
In his address to convention delegates this afternoon, Wall said the current revenue sharing formula has worked well but wouldn’t rule out making changes.
“When you hear me say or ministers say everything’s got to be on the table, it can’t be everything but a certain group,” he says. “It needs to be everything on the table at least for consideration. That’s the context, that’s the genesis for the discussion and some of the talk in the media that you’ve heard recently.”
La Ronge Mayor Thomas Sierzycki admits a number of municipal leaders were looking for a little more reassurance.
“We’ll be playing it by ear which is something we wanted to get away with standardization of the one PST point,” he says. “However, we’ll be hopeful that things work out for all communities across the province as it’s very important to provide those services with those dollars.”
The SUMA convention is taking place in Saskatoon.
It wraps up on Wednesday.