News Releases

Starting Monday, January 8, 2024, crews will begin pruning trees on civic property in  Pleasant Hill and Mayfair as part of the City's Boulevard Tree Maintenance Program. Tree maintenance operations in these two neighbourhoods will continue until March 31, 2024.    

The Boulevard Tree Maintenance Program follows a regular pruning cycle to help preserve the health of the City's tree inventory, as well as to eliminate hazards and provide clearance from buildings, signs, streetlights and utility wires.  

Tree maintenance often requires road restrictions. The City reminds pedestrians, cyclists and drivers to ensure safety is a priority by respecting the work zone and obeying all road restrictions and signage.  

For more information, visit saskatoon.ca/treemaintenance. 

The City of Saskatoon (City) is reaching out to the community for any information about two collisions that caused damage to separate overpasses during the evening of Wednesday, December 20, 2023.

The first collision happened at around 6:15 p.m. A southbound truck on Idylwyld Drive was hauling a large excavator exceeding height restrictions when the excavator hit and damaged girders underneath the 51st Street overpass.

The second hit-and-run incident happened less than an hour later at around 7:00 p.m. The cloverleaf overpass for Circle Drive above Highway 11 was also hit by a northbound vehicle exceeding height restrictions. This collision exposed reinforcing steel in the concrete and caused the rocky debris to fall, damaging an adjacent vehicle. As noted, the driver responsible for the damage did not remain at the scene.

City engineers have inspected both overpasses, which are safe and remain open to traffic. Damage estimates are not immediately available, however repairs are expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If the responsible driver or drivers are not found, the City will pay for the full cost of repair from the bridge repair reserve fund. Municipalities are unable to submit infrastructure damage insurance claims through SGI, but if the driver is identified, the repair may be covered by their insurance.

The City is asking anyone who may have witnessed these incidents to contact the Saskatoon Police Service at 306-975-8300 and use File Number 24-1119 for the 51st street overpass damage and File Number 23-169644 for the Circle Drive/Highway 11 cloverleaf damage.

*This report includes road restrictions on Priority 1 (high traffic, high speed) streets only.

ONGOING

WANUSKEWIN RD SB CURB LANE CLOSED FROM 72ND ST E TO 71ST ST E
(SaskTel installations)
Start: January 4, 7:00 a.m. End: January 5, 5:00 p.m.

BRIGHTON BLVD CLOSED FROM TASKAMANWA ST TO 8TH ST E 
(Construction) 
Use McOrmond Dr to 8th St 
Start: November 20, 7:00 a.m. End: November 18, 2024 

All restrictions will be lifted as indicated, weather permitting and barring any unforeseen circumstances.

For more information about current road restrictions and construction, visit saskatoon.ca/construction.

The Government of Saskatchewan has announced it will remove the carbon charge for utility customers who rely on electric heat as their primary home heating source. As such, the Saskatchewan government has directed SaskPower, the province’s electrical utility, to stop collecting the carbon charge on electric home heating, effective January 1, 2024.

Saskatoon Light & Power (SL&P) has historically set its electrical rates, programs and rebates to match those of SaskPower. This is to ensure consistency and fairness among Saskatoon residents regardless of their service provider, SL&P or SaskPower.

SL&P will also provide equivalent electric heat relief for its customers who use electric heat (typically baseboard heating) as their primary home heating source. For the City of Saskatoon, SaskPower will reimburse this relief to offset the cost of providing the rebate to the City’s customers. The rebate will be cost neutral for SL&P.

“We estimate there are approximately 2,000 SL&P customers in Saskatoon who use electric heat as their primary home heating source,” says Mike Voth, Director of Corporate Revenue. “The majority of Saskatchewan residents will not qualify for this one-time rebate; about 85%, use natural gas heating as the primary source of heat for their home. Corporate Revenue Customer Service will work with customers who contact us to determine if they are eligible.”

Are you an SL&P customer who uses electric heat as your primary home heating source?

If so, you may be eligible for the Saskatchewan Electric Heat Relief rebate. This one-time rebate, calculated on 60% of the carbon charge applied to your total electrical energy consumption from January 1 to April 30, 2024, would appear as a credit on your utility bill before the end of June 2024.

“Heating is estimated to account for up to 60% of power consumed during the winter months for those customers who use electric heat as their primary heating source for their homes. The SL&P one-time rebate aligns with the relief offered by SaskPower,” adds Voth.

How to apply/find out if you are eligible

To apply for and learn if you are eligible for the Saskatchewan Electric Heat Relief one-time rebate for SL&P electric heat customers, please email Revenue@saskatoon.ca or contact Revenue Customer Service at 306-975-2400.  Check Map of SL&P Service Area

Visit saskatoon.ca/electricrebate

City Administration will present an approval report to the Tuesday, January 9 meeting of the Environment, Utilities and Corporate Services Committee (EU&CS) to seek federal funding for a city-owned organics processing facility.

“After early analysis, there are strong indications that building our own organics processing facility is the most cost-effective option in terms of value for residents and benefit for the City,” says Brendan Lemke, Director of Water & Waste Operations. “We’re recommending an application to the Low Carbon Economy Challenge Fund (LCECF), which would cover up to 50 per cent of costs if our application is approved.”

The LCECF aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate clean growth. Food and yard waste buried in the landfill releases pollution including methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. A city-owned organics processing facility eliminates the release of pollution and instead will create compost that is safe to use in gardens and yards.

A city-owned organics processing facility could also result in lower processing costs when compared with a third-party processing contract. As Lemke notes, federal funding would significantly lower the initial investment cost for the facility.

The city-wide curbside organics (green cart) program launched in May 2023. In 2020, Green Prairie Environmental Ltd. (GPE) was awarded a contract to process organics materials, however, GPE has not fulfilled their obligations under the organics processing contract. As a result, the City requires a new long-term strategy for processing curbside organics. A future decision report will include details on the funding strategy, the facility and its location and stakeholder engagement plans.

More than 17,000 tonnes of organic waste have successfully been diverted from the landfill since the green cart program launch. Organic waste is being composted by the program’s interim processing contractor, Loraas, and not landfilled unless contaminated. The green cart program met diversion projections within the first seven months of the program. The Solid Waste Reduction and Diversion Plan projected green carts would divert 15,000 to 22,000 tonnes per year. To learn more about the green cart program, visit saskatoon.ca/greencart.