By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
In an effort to expand the municipality’s tax base and be competitive with surrounding municipalities, RM of Corman Park councillors voted unanimously at their January 27 meeting to introduce a one-year and three-year tax exemption for major facility improvements that meet certain criteria.
However, council opted not to offer a five-year tax exemption as part of the RM’s new policy, feeling that would be giving away too much of the municipality’s tax revenue.
Corman Park previously had a Tax Exemption Policy dating back to 2013, but council chose to rescind it in December 2024.
Discussion around tax exemptions occured on and off again throughout 2025 until the December 9 administration committee meeting, when committee members voted for a new tax exemption policy to be approved at the January 27 meeting.
The administration commmittee was presented with several options but ultimately chose a one-to-five-year tiered sliding scale tax exemption for projects ranging in value from $1 million to more than $10 million.
Under this policy, major commercial projects valued at $1 to $5 million that created a mininum of five full-time employees would be offered a 100% tax exemption for one year.
Projects valued at $5 to $10 million that created at least six full-time jobs would be offered a three-year 100% exemption, while projects valued at over $10 million that created over 16 full-time employees would receive a five-year 100% exemption.
Approval would be tied to a number of other conditions, such as ongoing compliance with municipal bylaws and policies and applicants being in good financial standing with the RM.
There would also be clawback provisions if commitments are not met to ensure RM ratepayers are protected.
Tax assessor Tanya Kolbeck said each exemption would be approved by council and supported by a formal agreement outlining the eligiblity criteria, performance conditions and the required monitoring.
She said the RM would also work with applicants to ensure they would receive an exemption for the school tax, noting that such exemptions are not always guaranteed.
While offering a tax exemption will result in the short-term reduction of tax revenue, the loss is intended to be offset by long-term assessment growth, employment creation and increased economic activity.
Division 4 Councillor David Greenwood said he had heard the RM doesn’t have the money to offer a tax exemption, but he agreed with the argument made by other councillors that they can’t earn tax revenue if they don’t have businesses to draw taxes from.
“The idea of this is to bring in businesses: bring in the next Costco, bring in the next Sam’s Club, bring in the next IKEA … businesses that might otherwise not come into Corman Park,” he said.
With that in mind, Greenwood said he was in favour of not offering a five-year tax exemption, adding that was a lot of money to give away.
Division 1 Councillor John Saleski and Division 8 Councillor Wendy Trask agreed with Greenwood on the five-year exemption.
“I think we’re leaving too much on the table there,” Saleski said.
Division 3 Councillor Lyndon Haduik added, “The (City of Saskatoon)’s going to grow and expand and walk all over us. I think we need to do everything we can to get a step ahead of them.”
Director of Finance and Information Technology Cal Hamm noted the City of Saskatoon offers its own five-year phased tax exemption for eligible projects that goes from 100% in the first year to 50% in the fifth year.