City officials were happy with what they heard when finance minister Ken Krawetz delivered the budget address from the legislature Wednesday afternoon.
Mayor Ian Hamilton was pleased and pleasantly surprised, he told reporters.
“My initial thoughts are very positive,” said Hamilton, who noted he was “pleased to recognize that the provincial government have maintained the revenue sharing of the municipal operating grant at one per cent of provincial sales taxes.”
“There were indications, there were fears, that that may be not honoured, and we are very, very pleased to acknowledge that so that we, together, as partners in the province of Saskatchewan can work together to build and to grow this province to reach its potential.”
He admitted that whether or not municipal revenue sharing would be maintained at one per cent of PST was his “biggest concern” going into the budget. City officials had based their budget for 2015 on that formula.
As well, the mayor was “heartened” by the confirmation in the budget that building Saskatchewan Hospital is a go. A line item of $129 million is in the 2015 budget for that construction.
“I’ve always been a strong supporter of this and also one that has been very, very confident that it was a matter of time before it would be fulfilled,” Hamilton told reporters. “So I have always expressed my confidence it would come to fruition.”
Beyond that, the mayor is pleased to see the $5.3 billion investment in infrastructure over the next four years. Hamilton believes this is the right move for the province at this time.
“This is a good time to be going and accessing capital funds through the financial institutions, borrowing money at a very attainable and very good rate of interest,” said Hamilton. “Of course that helps when we have a very high rating as we do in our financial status.”
He is also pleased with money going towards education and training. “We certainly recognize the necessity to develop our workforces.”
Hamilton watched the budget at City Hall alongside Director of Finance David Gillan and City Manager Jim Puffalt.
While they were most pleased with respect to confirmation of municipal revenue sharing at one per cent of PST, the one big piece of down news for them was the budget’s allotment of $4.5 million in urban highways connector program money, down from $8 million last year.
