It's not a sexy budget, but is one that she believes will keep Saskatchewan strong.
The Government of Saskatchewan released its 2012-13 budget, called "Keeping the Saskatchewan Advantage" on March 21, and Humboldt Sask. Party MLA and Minister of Education Donna Harpauer is a big believer in it.
"I am pleased that we have a balanced budget yet again," Harpauer told the Journal. "It's very, very important, especially in these difficult times for (other provinces) across the country and other jurisdictions in the world."
This budget, she said, "demonstrates we are going to keep Saskatchewan strong."
The 2012-13 budget posts a pre-transfer surplus of $95 million in the General Revenue Fund, and a surplus of $15 million in the Summary Financial Statements, which take into account all government operations, including the Crown corporations.
The Growth and Financial Security Fund is forecasted to finish the year with a balance of $756.4 million. The money in this "rainy-day fund" can be used to deal with emergencies or unforeseen expenses.
Revenue for the 2012-13 year is forecasted to be $11.29 billion, while the expense side is expected to be $11.2 billion, up by 4.7 per cent over last year. This is consistent, the government stated, with the plan outlined in the 2011-12 budget and in the government's recent election platform.
The budget makes some investments, including a $98-million increase (3.5 per cent) for Regional Health Authorities, $60.5 million for the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative, to perform 8,000 more surgeries and continue reducing surgical wait times; $16.9 million more for the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, for 6,000 new patient referrals, almost 30,000 chemotherapy treatments and 39,000 mammograms; $5.5 million more for the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) Helicopter Ambulance; $3.5 million for the Senior Personal Care Home benefit, estimated to be $278 a month, rising to $369 per month by 2015-16; $24.2 million, a $3.3-million increase to provide Seniors Income Plan benefit increases of up to $50 per month starting July 2012, an increase of up to $10 per month in each of the next three years; $237.4 million in Municipal Revenue Sharing, an increase of $20.6 million or 9.5 per cent; $4.6 million to meet the commitment to establish the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship, that will provide new high school graduates with up to $2,000 toward tuition fees at any Saskatchewan post-secondary institution; a new rental housing construction initiative providing a 10-year rebate of Corporate Income Tax equal to 10 per cent of the expected rental income from new multi-unit residential rental projects; and a new Saskatchewan First-Time Homebuyers' tax credit of up to $1,100 against Saskatchewan income tax payable.
The 2012-13 Budget also makes a total of $788 million in capital expenditures across government, including:
$42.7 million to begin construction of seven previously announced Long Term Care (LTC) facilities under a new co-ownership model with health regions. Construction will continue on six LTCs already begun;
$88.7 million for 21 approved major school projects; and
$581.5 million in highways spending, commencing the government's commitment to spend $2.2 billion over four years.
The budget also cut a few programs, and increased some charges.
For instance, the Film Employment Tax Credit has been cut, saving $8 million per year.
Also, funding to the Enterprise Regions around the province, including the Prairie Innovation Enterprise Region (PIER) headquartered in Humboldt, has been completely cut, amounting to savings of $4 million to the government.
This decision was one that was hotly debated, Harpauer indicated.
When deciding what areas to cut, in order to direct extra funding to places like the cancer clinic, the government started asking the question: "Is this a business we should be in?"
The Enterprise Regions are a more rural, local initiative, she indicated, and they believe that if local municipalities see a value in the services the regions provide, they can support them.
One of the largest increases in the budget was to municipal governments, Harpauer indicated.
"Revenue sharing... is extremely strong this year. We feel, with that, if they choose to support the Enterprise Region, they have more than enough money to offset that cost."
Charges to the seniors' and children's' drug plans have also gone up by $5 per prescription, saving about $10 million.
Creating this budget meant making some difficult decisions, Harpauer said, but it was done with an eye to maintain strong services for the people of Saskatchewan, she argued.
Raising the cost of the drug plans to $20 per prescription instead of $15 had to be done, she indicated, as the charges had not been increased since it was introduced in 2007, and wanted it to last into the future.
"We thought we had better address it as we go forward," she said.
"We wanted to ensure the most low income seniors were not affected," Harpauer added, which is why they increased the Seniors Income Plan.
Harpauer's favorite part of the budget falls under her education portfolio.
"Education is still a strong priority for our government," she said. "We think of it as an investment in the future, rather than an expense."
With this budget, she said, they have unveiled the new funding formula the school divisions around the province have been waiting for.
In addition, Harpauer said, they have promised $10 million to mitigate any decrease any school division would see this year, with the new formula.
"So no school division will see a decrease in funding for this year," she stated.
Locally, the Horizon School Division will see a 6.7 per cent increase, amounting to an extra $4.5 million, in the upcoming fiscal year.
The Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division, which runs two elementary schools in Humboldt, and partners with Horizon to run Humboldt Collegiate Institute, will see a 5.9 per cent increase, or $7.87 million more this year.
"It's a strong budget for our area in education," Harpauer noted.
Capital projects already announced will be going forward, she added, and that includes a new space for the Humboldt Public School.
"I don't think they are ready for construction yet," Harpauer said. "I believe it's still in the planning stages."
Five hundred more childcare spaces have been added around the province with this budget, she added - Humboldt will see the result of this when a new daycare space is opened in the new Humboldt Public School, she noted.
"In a growing community, that's pretty exciting," she said.
Three new capital projects in education in Martensville, Hudson Bay and Leader were also announced with the budget, she noted.
The budget, in essence, she said, "is moving forward with a lot of our election promises."
One of those that's important for this area is the promise they made to offer tuition rebates for students studying to become physicians or nurse practitioners, and working in rural areas.
"That's huge for our area," Harpauer said of fulfilling that promise. "If we don't do something now, the (doctor shortage) crisis will get worse."
Harpauer also likes that they have maintained an extremely large highways budget, which includes more funding for the replacement of St. Louis Bridge.
Harpauer does like this budget, she concluded.
"It's not sexy or exciting, there's no wow, but I'm all for watching what we're doing."
There will be discussions about more funding for infrastructure, she noted, when they get the mid-year numbers back.
"If we have a strong mid-year (report), we tend to address infrastructure," she said.
