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“The facts speak for themselves,” Moore said in an interview on Friday. “I think we have to stop comparing ourselves to other cities.”

Moore said she keeps hearing from residents that debt is a major concern. Clark said he is not hearing the same thing.

Major projects include federal and provincial money as well as money from the city, and the city requires a plan to pay back its debt, Clark added.

He defended spending money on key projects and said borrowing when interest rates are low is a good strategy.

He rejected claims by Moore that the city’s AAA credit rating could be in jeopardy.

Mayoral candidate Don Atchison also defended the city’s per capita debt load as among the lowest in Canada. There’s no reason to believe the city’s credit rating could be scaled back, he said.

“If they have different information than that, that says that the city’s in financial trouble or is going to be in financial trouble, they should present the facts, not speculation.”

Atchison slammed a suggestion by Moore on Thursday that the 2017 property tax increase could top 10 per cent. No tax increase has topped 10 per cent in recent memory.

Clark called it “almost a bizarre statement.”

“These statistics are not based anywhere in fact or reality,” he said. “I have no idea where this 10 per cent figure could have come from.”

Moore provided comment via email.

“It is the responsibility of the administration to provide timely information on projected budget deficits and resulting tax increases. We are using information that is publicly available to date to make our projections. Had Council not voted to delay the release of the preliminary budget in April, we would all now know what the potential increase may be,” the message said.

— With files from Alex MacPherson

ptank@postmedia.com

twitter.com/thinktankSK

The facts on debt

The City of Saskatoon’s numbers on debt for the last three years:

Total debt

2013: $234.5 million

2014: $238.1 million

2015: $263.1 million

Property tax supported debt

2013: $139.8 million

2014: $132.3 million

2015: $139.1 million

Debt per capita

2013: $994

2014: $922

2015: $943