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The report says reducing service levels is the other option available to the city, but city hall administration needs direction from council in that regard.

“Any kind of service level review would require significant effort and thorough consideration, which cannot be done in short order,” the report says.

Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark has repeatedly called the situation a “fiscal crisis” and “unprecedented.”

The largest impact to the budget comes from the elimination of grants-in-lieu from Crown corporations. These are grants paid to the city for properties owned by Crowns like SaskPower, SaskEnergy and TransGas instead of property tax.

The Saskatchewan Party government estimates $36 million a year can be saved by eliminating the grants. The grants are slated to be eliminated April 1. That mitigates the impact for this year since the grant will be paid until March 31, but still leaves a potential $11.4 million hole for 2018.

The effect of eliminating the grants in 2017 is expected to be $8.32 million, which is lessened somewhat by about $330,000 more than budgeted in revenue sharing.

The budget also increased the provincial sales tax to six per cent, which is expected to increase costs for the city by $1.75 million

Other cuts that could affect the city includes the elimination of $651,000 in provincial funding from the Saskatoon Public Library and a $409,000 reduction in funding for the Meewasin Valley Authority.