As the provincial government reduced school tax bills across the province over the past few years, it seems someone has been stealing part of those savings from taxpayers – municipal governments.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a non-profit taxpayers’ watchdog group, has been hearing more and more from taxpayers in various municipalities in Saskatchewan that their local governments seem to view the drop in school tax rates as an opportunity for municipalities to swoop in and increase property taxes.

So the question is – what are you going to do about it?

Yes, you.

As a non-profit organization with limited resources and a handful of staff, we do the best we can to watchdog provincial and federal issues – after all, those governments impact taxpayers province and nation-wide.

However, with literally thousands of municipalities across the country it’s impossible for our small staff to keep tabs on each one.

Sure the larger ones are easier to keep an eye on as they service large volumes of people and we’re often asked for our opinions on their questionable expenditures. The City of Toronto’s decision to audit the amount of shade in city parks is a classic example.

However, it’s equally important for taxpayers in all communities to be vigilant and active. To assist people with starting up active, local taxpayer watchdog groups, the CTF came up with three documents.

The first is called a Municipal Ratepayers Guide and includes information on how people can set up a local taxpayers group, and details on how to effectively push for change.

The document also includes information on how to get information from the government (known as “freedom of information” requests) and details on strategies for communicating your message to local media, politicians and fellow taxpayers through tools like Facebook and Twitter.

The second document is called the “Beggar’s Checklist” and it includes numerous ideas on how municipalities can reduce costs and raise revenue legitimately rather than simply hiking property taxes.

Local taxpayers can go through the checklist and see if each initiative is happening in their own municipality. If all the heavy lifting hasn’t been done, their politicians shouldn’t be off begging other levels of government for more funding or hiking municipal property taxes.

The document highlights initiatives such as whether or not there is unused municipal land that could be sold and developed. There are details on how municipal governments can often deliver services for less by hiring a private business to do the work rather than having someone do it in-house.

Another example is the need to look at the pay gap that often exists between government employees and similar positions in the private sector.

The third document is called “A Property Tax Cap” and it explores recommendations on capping municipal taxing powers. The goal is to ensure that municipalities can’t simply go off and increase taxes at a rate that’s higher than what taxpayers can afford. The report also discusses reasonable user fees and the role of government in general.

With province-wide elections coming up this fall throughout Saskatchewan and property tax bills on the rise, it’s not a bad idea for taxpayers to get organized now.

The aforementioned documents can help you select taxpayer-friendly candidates and hold them accountable, rather those than those who are more interested in taking the easy way out and eating up your school tax savings.