By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
City of Martensville councillors passed all three readings during their January 27 meeting on a new economic development incentive bylaw, which updates some of the language from the previous bylaw and also expands some of the requirements to qualify for exemptions.
Bylaw No. 1-2026 was reviewed previously by city council during the committee of the whole meeting on January 20, though discussion around the city’s economic development incentive bylaw actually began back in October.
As noted in a report by Economic Development Manager Dillon Shewchuk, the City of Martensville has had some version of an incentive bylaw dating back to 1989, when agreements with business development prospects were first completed. Bylaws were put in place by 2002 and then updated in 2010 and 2012.
Incentives can help to attract and accelerate investment in a community, as well as help facilitate job creation and show the community’s commitment to investment attraction, he wrote.
On the flip side, they do result in the loss or deferral of tax revenue that can be used for local infrastructure. The complexity of the incentive can also add a level of administrative burden.
According to the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA), other local municipalities offering incentives include Saskatoon, Warman, Dalmeny, Osler, Asquith, Delisle, the RM of Blucher, and Rosthern.
The RM of Corman Park also recently introduced tax exemptions for large commercial projects at the end of January.
Originally, the idea had been to update Martensville’s old economic development business incentive bylaw, but it was eventually decided to introduce a completely new one with some updated terminology.
“We’re looking to modernize the Economic Development Incentive bylaw to better reflect the current environment for business development, especially in regards to costs, and to better align moreso with some of our priorities and the type of developments that we want to see here in Martensville,” Shewchuk said.
Shewchuk highlighted some of the changes that had been made from the old bylaw for council during the January 20 committee of the whole meeting.
To start off, Shewchuk said the new bylaw now contains a clear definition of commercial and industrial economic development.
The definitions of eligible projects have also been updated — for example, the bylaw now states that businesses and projects that qualify for tax exemptions must be aligned with municipal priorities that create economic and social benefits.
The exemption amounts have also been changed, with Shewchuk noting that he looked at the past 10 or so projects that received exemptions and used those results to adjust the amounts.
Now, exemptions may be granted for one to five years for investments ranging from $500,000 to $750,000 in value to more than $3 million.
Previously, the old bylaw offered one to five year exemptions for investments of $500,000 to $700,000 in value to more than $2 million.
Shewchuk noted these new amounts remain competitive with other local jurisdictions with their own incentives.
The new bylaw also makes reference to some of the city’s guiding documents like its Strategic Plan and expands on the scenarios where an incentive will not be offered, with businesses that are in property tax arrears being added to the list.
Finally, Shewchuk said that this bylaw will be reviewed after one year to determine if any changes need to be made.
Councillor Brad Blixt asked Shewchuk about the possibility of introducing a tiered system of tax incentives.
Shewchuk said that some other municipalities tie their incentives to the number of jobs created, but he had always argued against going in that direction.
“Being a small jurisdiction, I find that is challenging to monitor and check,” he said, adding, “The one thing I’ve always liked about our bylaw is its simplicity.”
Shewchuk raised one scenario where problems could potentially arise, namely a business that promises to create X number of jobs but needs to eliminate some positions due to having a slow first year.
“Do we yank out the incentive when they probably need it the most?” he asked.
He said they also haven’t asked about job creation when businesses have applied for incentives in the past because he doesn’t find those type of estimates to be credible, especially when it pertains to construction-type jobs.
Mayor Kent Muench commented later that he viewed the main reason for offering an incentive was to spur commercial development within the city and better diversify their tax base.