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The grants program was introduced in the mid-20th century as a way of compensating municipalities for the value of assets and revenue lost as a result of their inability to set up independent power and energy distribution services.

Crown corporations other than SaskPower and SaskEnergy pay grants in lieu of municipal taxes based on the assessed value of their properties and assets in communities across the province.

Data for the 2016-17 fiscal year is not yet available, but Crown corporation disclosures for the 12 months ended March 31, 2016 show about 93 per cent of the $44 million in grants paid by SaskPower, SaskEnergy and TransGas went to the province’s large cities.

Together, Saskatoon and Regina were home to 42 per cent of the provincial population and received about 65 per cent of the now-eliminated grants in lieu of taxes. That equates to an annual per capital loss of $43 in Saskatoon and $84 in Regina.

SaskTel, meanwhile, paid a combined total of $6.6 million in grants over the same period; slightly less than $3 million of that was split between dozens of RMs. SGI paid $6.1 million in grants during the 2015-16 fiscal year, all of which went to towns and cities.

Shortly after releasing its 2017-18 budget, the government announced plans to cap reductions to grants-in-lieu at 30 per cent of a given municipality’s revenue sharing, reducing the cuts to $33 million from $36 million.

McCall said the province “took a pretty good run at cities” in the budget, and that its decision to preserve some grants but not others is reminiscent of previous efforts — such as dismissing suggestions that RMs be amalgamated — to please its rural base.