The Saskatchewan Party presented the province's 2011 budget Wednesday.
While the document is the last budget before the scheduled election this fall, Yorkton MLA Greg Ottenbreit said it was "not really" what he would term a pre-election budget.
"We've done as much as we possibly could as soon as we possibly could," he said, relating back to the party's four-year term.
Ottenbreit said it was important that the budget was balanced. In fact, there is a budgeted $115 million surplus that had they wanted to could have been used for pre-election goodies.
"We could have ran that down to zero, and still had a balanced budget," he said, adding they instead chose to keep a surplus as a cushion to unexpected situations, like the potential impact a wet spring might have on agriculture.
Chad Blenkin who is running for the New Democrats in the Yorkton riding this fall said the budget fell short in his mind.
"There's no question there's a resource boom in the province," he said, adding the budget really came down "to how they manage those funds."
In Blenkin's mind the Saskatchewan Party missed addressing the needs of people.
"They never really addressed any of the concerns of Saskatchewan people, or the people of Yorkton," he said, adding while the budget's spending was one of the largest is the province's history, "we found it doing so little There was lots of money spent but it was not well-targeted It was all scattered and never solved any problems."
Ottenbreit said the 2011 budget was one where some of the key elements were sort of pre-established in the sense they had initially been scheduled for last year, but were delayed a year in reaction to an economic slowdown dating back to 2009.
The delayed programming includes finishing a program for relief on the education portion of property tax which in 2011-12 will amount to $55.6 million.
Farmers will see their education property tax reduced by about 80 per cent, and homeowners will see their education property tax reduced by about 29 per cent.
"We were holding back the last year of the property tax program," said Ottenbreit, adding it was important to complete that process.
Similarly the budget also completed the province's promised change to the municipal revenue sharing program. This year there will be $216.8 million in municipal revenue sharing - a $49.4 million increase from last year as the government completed funding formula based on the PST.
Ottenbreit said the budget also continues a trend toward lower income tax.
"Being a conservative-minded government we believe in leaving money in people's pockets," he said, he said adding by doing that it allows people "to decide how to spend it."
At the same time the government has to take in enough revenue to fund those things government is responsible for, things such as health care, education and social services, said Ottenbreit.
The 2011-12 Budget reduced income taxes for individuals and families by increasing the basic personal and spousal exemptions by $1,000 each, and by increasing the exemption for dependent children by $500 per child. As a result;
A family of four will pay no tax on their first $45,550 of earned income, the highest income threshold in Canada
An individual taxpayer will pay no income tax on his or her first $17,580 of earned income
As a result of all the tax changes introduced since 2007, a family of four earning $50,000 will save $2,447 in income taxes this year
Over 110,000 Saskatchewan residents will pay no provincial income tax at all as a result of tax reductions since 2007
Budget 2011-12 cuts the small business tax rate by more than half, from 4.5 per cent to two per cent - the third lowest tax rate in the country.
Ottenbreit said while several thousand more people will not pay any personal provincial income tax, he added relief is there for all.
"There's still savings all the way up the ladder," he said.
Tax cuts were not enough to help many, suggested Blenkin, who said seniors, low income earners and some other groups are being squeezed by increasing rents and higher utility rates.
"There was no protection from utility increases, or rent control," he said, adding that is worrisome when it is estimated 1,350 in Yorkton are living beyond CHMC standards in terms of how much of their income goes to housing. " That's more than 10 per cent of households in Yorkton."
Ottenbreit said another key aspect of the budget was continued debt reduction.
Budget 2011-12 will pay down debt by another $325 million, bringing Saskatchewan's government general debt level to $3.81 billion, the lowest level since 1987-88.
Since 2007, the Saskatchewan government has paid down the $3 billion in debt. Today, the province's debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio is one of the lowest in the country.
The reduced debt means a savings on interest, said Ottenbreit.
"That money goes toward other programming and projects," he said.
Blenkin said the money could have been targeted better.
One area where people were hoping for far more than was provided in the budget was housing, said Blenkin.
"A lot of people were looking for more funding for affordable housing," he said. "The housing concern is not just Yorkton, but across the province."
The budget includes up to $1.5 million in up-front provincial incentives to apartment builders to offset the cost of education property tax on as many as 650 new units per year.
There is also support for Municipal Affordable Home Ownership programs that provide homeowners with grants for home purchases.
However, Blenkin said when you consider there was $5 million in the budget to improve off-sale beer sales for vendors, "you're left questioning where the priorities were."
Blenkin said when you consider there is a $1 billion windfall, there should be $100 million-plus for housing.
Blenkin said education funding also fell short. He pointed to the fact post-secondary students facing a third consecutive year of increased tuitions, and money allocated for capital projects is what he termed "money to fix leaking roofs."
Other highlights of the budget include;
$285 million for highways, and $129 million to repair and rebuild bridges and roads
$134.1 million for municipal infrastructure, with $70.3 million allocated to federal-provincial
infrastructure projects, including funding extended under the federal stimulus programs
$321 million to fully fund the cost of farm stabilization programs
$55.6 million to complete the Education Property Tax reductions which will cut education tax on farmland by 80 per cent
