Regina city council passes 2025 operating budget, mill rate increase now at 7.33%

Regina city council passed the 2025 city operating budget on Thursday.

After councillors reduced some of the line items over days of deliberations, residents are now looking at a 7.33 per cent mill rate increase, down from the 8.5 per cent initially proposed.

The total operating budget is now $650 million, with total tax levies of $330.8 million.

"We've prioritized low mill rate increases across the board and that's not just city operations, that's all of our partners as well," Regina mayor Chad Bachynski said after the budget was passed. "We heard that through the delegation process and through lots of questions through those delegations and otherwise. That was the place that we got to.

"There was lots of good passionate conversation. Everybody cares deeply about making sure that we try to get to the right number and that's what I saw through the process."

Funding for the Provincial Capital Commission and Economic Development Regina remained unchanged from the original budget proposal, but funding for the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) was reduced to $11.2 million from $12.7 million.

The Regina Police Services will get $122.5 million, down from an initial request of $123.3 million. 

The budget was approved in a 9-2 vote. Couns. Dan Rashovich and Shanon Zachidniak voted against it.

The 2025 utility operating budget of $187 million was passed unanimously.

After several rounds of amendments, the library mill rate increase of 4.48 per cent for operations was passed. The separate mill rate increase of an additional 5.5 per cent to fund the central library renewal project was also passed.

According to the City of Regina, the typical homeowner in the city will pay an extra $26.41 per month on the combined mill rate, utility rate and library levy changes.

Council walks back explicit staff reductions

Several Regina city councillors spoke out on Thursday after council voted the previous day to fire city staff to save money.

"This is not DOGE or Tesla, this is a public service with real people and real families," Coun. David Froh said as the vote was reconsidered. "I hope yesterday is never repeated."

On Wednesday afternoon, council voted in favour of reducing city staffing levels for a budget saving of $1.5 million, which would cut the proposed mill rate increase by 0.5 percentage points. The jobs targeted were 34 external consultants and "out of scope" management-level positions.

Froh recused himself from the vote, saying he had a conflict of interest. Couns. Victoria Flores and Zachidniak, along with Mayor Chad Bachynski, voted against the motion.

That vote was reconsidered on Thursday, after Couns. Froh, Jason Mancinelli, Sarah Turnbull and Zachidniak spoke out against it.

"We caused sleepless nights for many staff last night. We put folks in a tailspin," Zachidniak said.

"What I'm saying is no, we don't reduce our mill rate arbitrarily."

Zachidniak motioned instead for the option to be studied, so it could potentially be implemented in a future budget.

That motion failed, but council amended the original Wednesday motion, asking the city manager to reduce expenditures by at least $1.55 million but not stipulating it be done solely through reducing staffing levels.

Instead, the city manager was directed to provide the executive committee with a plan to realize these savings at its meeting on April 30.

The episode showcased a rift between two groups of city councillors on how to produce savings on the large 8.5 per cent mill rate increase proposed by the city.

Couns. Clark Bezo and Rashovich volunteered on Thursday to take a five-per-cent pay cut to help generate savings. They said it showcased their commitment to making sacrifices to generate savings for taxpayers.

"When I was playing football, we used to say hey, walk the talk," Rashovich said on spending cuts and affordability, which he noted many other councillors campaigned on.

"You don't save your way into the black," Froh said in a different exchange.

Much of city council's budget debate focused on scouring the operating and capital budgets for ways to reduce the mill rate increase. Without changes, the city's mill rate would have increased by 8.5 per cent, the largest bump in more than 10 years.

The city manager, who produced the budget, said the increase is needed to maintain service levels and account for city growth.

City council also voted on Wednesday to add two full-time employees to help address the city's 25-year backlog of audits. That effort would be funded by a 0.07 per cent increase to the mill rate.

A motion by Rashovich to reduce funding for the city's equity diversity and inclusion staff by $110,000 was defeated.

Council also approved the final $108-million operating budget for the Regina Police Service.