Officials in agriculture are not impressed by the Saskatchewan government's two-year tax relief for education taxes, announced last week, but Weyburn's mayor is pleased.

"In Weyburn, this will reduce property taxes for everyone," said Mayor Don Schlosser, who also is president of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA).

The Saskatchewan government announced it will use $110 million in federal grants to reduce the education portion of property taxes over two years. The tax relief will be reduced by eight per cent for all classes of property.

Schlosser said he's very happy with the manner of distribution, in spite of promises from the premier to specifically address tax inequities on farm land. Everybody pays education taxes so everybody gets some relief, he said. The temporary cut is a start in the right direction, said Schlosser, while noting that Saskatchewan taxpayers still pay by far the biggest chunk of school taxes compared to other provinces.

The education tax bill in Weyburn is about 53-54 per cent of the total property tax bill, so the total will go down about four per cent in 2005, he said. Farm officials say the broad-based distribution did nothing for the long term.

The provincial government opted for votes rather than using the federal dollars to help create more wealth, said Doug Watson, reeve for the rural municipality of Scott. "If they give me that money, I will buy more fertilizer and come back with more grain and pay more income taxes and need less crop insurance," he said.

Watson said education taxes on both farm land and commercial property should have been reduced more because they are the creators of wealth.

"The tax is way out of line for them," he said. Watson said Manitoba farmers already pay only half the education tax paid by Saskatchewan farmers but the Manitoba government has just committed to another 33 per cent reduction this year and another 50 per cent reduction next year.

"They'll be paying only 25 per cent of the education tax we are paying after next year," he said.

The RMs of Scott and Brokenshell are protesting provincial inaction on education taxes by cutting their payment to school divisions in 2004. In the RM of Scott's case, that means farmers will pay about $5,400 per student to local school divisions for last year, instead of the $24,000 per student assessed.

Carmen Sterling, reeve of the RM of Weyburn said she's quite disappointed by the announcement. "It doesn't do anything for an inequity that Premier Lorne Calvert himself said was there. It's a two-year Band-Aid."

Sterling said it's too bad the province can jump in with both feet to force school board amalgamations but can't do the same for education tax.

A chart provided by the department of Learning shows the average residence with a fair market value of $100,000 and an assessed value of $70,000 will save $90 in education taxes in both 2005 and '06 on an education tax bill of about $1,140.

The chart shows one section of cultivated land worth $220,000 on the market and assessed at $121,000 will save $180 in each of the two years, off its $2,215 education tax bill. A section of pasture land worth $100,000 and assessed at $50,000 will save $75 from its $915 bill.

Meanwhile, a small retail operation worth $100,000 on the market and assessed at $100,000 will $190 on a bill of about $2,340 in each of the two years.

The samples provided are all average amounts paid in the province.

Statistics Canada says Saskatchewan targets a lower percentage of its provincial expenditures to elementary and secondary education than any other province because it relies on property taxes to pay the largest cost. Only 8.2 per cent of the provincial budget is spent on education in 2003, it said.