Saskatchewan's minister of finance, Rod Gantefoer, is in a bind trying to meet budget promises in the face of lower than expected revenues. (CBC)

Saskatchewan Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer says he may not be able to boost municipal operating grants as much as he had promised in the spring budget.

In March, the government said urban, northern and rural municipalties would all share one percentage point of the five per cent provincial sales tax, with the change phased in over two years.

The plan was that municipalities would get 90 per cent of one percentage point this year, and a full percentage point from next year on.

This year, it meant grants went up by $32 million, to $167 million.

But the plan to further boost grants to around $220 million may be delayed, or even revamped "if the revenue isn't there to allow it," Gantefoer said Monday.

Gantefoer admits the provincial sales tax has been stable, with projected revenues rising over the past year.

However, the Saskatchewan government's overall financial situation has deteriorated since the spring budget, thanks in large part to a $1.3-billion drop in projected potash revenues.

"If [PST revenue] would have been the only measure of what happened to the provincial economy, we'd be in a good position to move forward with the plan," he said.

Now, Gantefoer said, he's willing to revisit the idea of whether sharing the PST is even the best formula, in light of this year's potash problems.

'A tough pill to swallow'

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan mayors are not happy with that talk.

A lot of discussions and planning went into the new grant system, said Allan Earle, president of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association.

"We had people, and government had people, that sat at the table for literally countless hours to come up with this formula and we quite like it," Earle said. "To change it now, it would be kind of a tough pill to swallow."

Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco said he would be "extremely disappointed" if the government doesn't keep its promise.

The NDP Opposition says the government had better move forward with the original plan.

"They decided PST was the appropriate way to go," NDP MLA Deb Higgins said. "They didn't tag it to potash, they didn't tag it to non-renewable resources, they tagged it to PST."

Municipalities need a predictable source of money, not a return to waiting on the whims of a provincial finance minister, Fiacco said.