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Saskatoon’s operating budget has nearly doubled in 10 years, increasing by nearly $200 million between 2006 and 2015.

This growth of about 96 per cent far outstrips the city’s population growth over the decade.

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Even when inflation is taken into account, this still represents a spending increase of nearly 70 per cent, or about seven per cent each year.

The largest increase is the number of City of Saskatoon employees making $100,000 or more. In 2006, the city had 45 employees — about 1.7 per cent of the workforce — in that category; by 2015, it had 816 of them, or 25 per cent of the workforce.

Photo by Greg Pender / The StarPhoenix

The city’s director of finance, Clae Hack, says this comparison does not take inflation into account.

“A hundred grand today is a lot different than it was 10 years ago,” Hack said in an interview.

According to the Bank of Canada, one dollar in 2006 equals about $1.16 in 2015 adjusted for inflation, meaning the corresponding 2016 threshold for city salaries would be about $116,000. City hall staff use a different calculation, saying the inflationary pressures faced by a municipal government are greater and that a more accurate threshold is $135,000.