The City of Regina is set to establish its annual Servicing Agreement Fees for the upcoming year.

Servicing Agreement Fees (SAFs) are charged to developers to help pay for the increased demand on city infrastructure.

Mayor Sandra Masters says the city wants to make sure their SAFs are competitive with other cities.

“Regina needs to be competitive, not just within Saskatchewan, but across jurisdictions,” said Masters. “I’m really encouraged by the stakeholder engagement, and the working that was done with industry to come up with those fees, and with that program, we think that expert advice coming into administration for the development of that program is, kind of, the key to our competitiveness going forward.”

While a specific plan has not been laid out by the city, Masters says many want to see the calculation of SAFs be simpler.

“I think what industry is telling us is, the way it’s been designed, aligned, simplified is what’s going to get us competitive in terms of putting people into homes, and developing neighbourhoods,” said Masters.

SAFs usually go into the price of a home, as the developer tries to recover the fees. So, Masters says it’s better for everyone if SAFs stay as low as possible.

“With this new plan, they believe it remains competitive, and that the cost of living here is still kept relatively low compared to some of the other major cities in western Canada,” said Masters.

More information on Servicing Agreement Fees can be found on the city’s website.