By Greg Nikkel
The provincial budget came in with a deficit of $434 million and expenses of $14.46 billion, with the hope the Saskatchewan economy will rebound by next year.
Finance minister Kevin Doherty introduced the budget on Wednesday, with no tax increases in spite of a deficit caused by nearly $1 billion less revenues expected this year.
Positive news for the City of Weyburn came in the form of an increase in municipal revenue-sharing, which Mayor Debra Button said is good news in a tough year like this one. Weyburn will receive $2.29 million in revenue-sharing, up from $2.24 million year ago.
Mayor Button said of the revenue-sharing program, “It’s basically a gentleman’s agreement. We are pleased they lived up to it with the urban municipalities. That money will go a long ways for us, and help us keep taxes low and do some of the projects that we want to do.”
Recalling when she was first on city council, Mayor Button said, “I remember when we were budgeting and received next to nothing from revenue-sharing. We never want to take that for granted. We are thankful that it’s there.”
Urban municipalities altogether will receive $174.6 million, rural municipalities will get $76.7 million and northern municipalities will get $20.3 million, with an overall increase of 2.4 per cent. Revenue-sharing is based on one percentage point from the provincial sales tax.
On the negative side, the province cut half a million dollars from the parks budget, which includes funding for the five urban park systems in Saskatchewan, including Weyburn’s Tatagwa Parkway.
Mayor Button said this funding is in the range of $41,000, and admitted she could see both sides of the coin on this cut.
“We’ve all been around the table where we have to make tough decisions based on limited resources, and we can’t operate with a deficit. I’m not saying parks aren’t important, but when you look at the budget from 30,000 feet, I can understand the decision,” she said, noting on the other side of it, the city is “extremely disappointed” in the funding cut.
“Tatagwa is a jewel in our community, and Coun. (Nancy) Styles has led the way in keeping it that way, and before that it was Coun. (Marlene) Nedelcov,” said the mayor, noting one of the needs was to do path paving in the parkway system this year.
“Without that money, we’ll have to take a strong look at it. That’ll be a discussion the parks board and administration will have to have,” said Mayor Button.
Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA and Health Minister Dustin Duncan said the deficit should not have surprised anyone in the southeast in the heart of oil country, and thus there should also have been no surprises when no dollars were announced for the next stage for the Weyburn Junior High, slated for demolition as the school closes its doors at the end of this school year, nor for the Weyburn General Hospital’s next stage.
In regard to the hospital, Duncan noted that Sun Country Health Region has submitted their plans for the new acute care hospital, outlining what services they wish to have there, with the number of beds, and it will now be scrutinized by the Ministry for approval. He added that the health region has likely not used their initial funding for planning, and they can continue to use those funds this year.
“I don’t think anybody was expecting construction to begin already,” he added.
As for the junior high, he said the hope is there will only be a one-year delay before that project can proceed to the next step, to demolish the school and build a new elementary school facility in its place.
In regard to the decision to cut funding to the Tatagwa Parkway system, Duncan said this will be a permanent decision, not just a one-time cut due to the budget, as the government feels this should be solely a municipal responsibility. He also pointed out the City got an increase in their revenue-sharing payment, and the increase is more than the amount cut for the parkway system, which should enable the city to take care of their parks needs.
For the RM of Weyburn, Reeve Carmen Sterling said they are pleased that they will get close to the same amount in revenue sharing as last year, with a decrease of only about $900. Their revenue-sharing grant, which is unconditional, will be $208,063, which she noted is better than it was in 2010.
“It certainly is good that it’s unconditional, so it definitely helps us out,” said the reeve. “You can direct it to where you need the funds.”
The RM council was also pleased there was an increase in the agricultural component of the budget, as much of their economy is farming-based. Also, the education property tax was unchanged, which is good news for the ratepayers in the RM.
There weren’t a lot of surprises in the budget when it was released on Wednesday, said representatives of the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce.
“The deficit is a concern certainly but the commitment to an aggressive plan to get back to balance within a short time period is positive,” said Chamber President Larry Heggs.
The budget again indicated a strong commitment from the government to infrastructure spending, and included an additional $1.3 million in funding for continued planning for the Highway 6 and 39 twinning project from Regina to Estevan, which now includes passing lanes, according to a summary from Highways and Infrastructure.
“We’re pleased to see the infrastructure spending,” said Rochelle Wendt, Chamber Manager, “and we support the Saskatchewan Chamber recommendations for strategic infrastructure spending on projects that improve productivity and enhance export capacity as this project does.”
The question mark in the budget is the government’s commitment to what they are calling a “transformational change plan”.
“We certainly advocate for the efficient delivery of government services and a modernization of programs where necessary,” said Wendt, “and we will continue to watch closely as the details of this new plan are revealed.”
She noted the provincial government has already stated that there will be a review of how health care and education are delivered in the province with the possible amalgamation of Health Regions as the first step in the process.
Speaking as the president of SUMA, Mayor Button had praise for the continued support of municipalities in a tough budget year.
“Overall I do feel there’s a strong partnership with municipalities across the province, and I think that support is being shown. Municipalities are the engines of economic growth. When we have strong municipalities, we have a strong economy,” said the mayor.
The 2016-17 budget includes $83.8 million in provincial support for municipal infrastructure, which is an increase of $50 million from last year. This includes $21.4 million for the provincial share of the New Building Canada fund, $25 million for the Regina stadium project, $16 million for the Municipal Roads Strategy, $7.7 million for the Urban Connector program, $1.9 million for the Strategic Partnership program and $1.3 million for the Building Canada Fund’s Communities component, and Building Communities program.
“We’re grateful for the infrastructure dollars. The Building Canada fund is ramped up,” she added, noting that the City of Weyburn has been waiting for three years for infrastructure funding for their new reservoir, with costs rising in the three years they’ve been waiting. “Hopefully, there’s money coming for that.”
The Agriculture budget was increased by 7.5 per cent to a total of almost $390 million, including $254 million to fund ag programs like crop insurance and AgriStability, and $71 million for strategic initiatives under the federal-provincial Growing Forward 2 agreement, and close to $27 million for agricultural research to support improvements in productivity.
The provincial coffers is being hit by a drop of $968 million in resource revenue. Taxation will bring in $6.86 billion, non-renewable resources will bring in $1.48 billion, other own-source revenue will total $2.09 billion, and transfers from the federal government will total $2.5 billion. The assumption for revenues includes an oil price of $44.88 US per barrel, with royalties expected to total $509.7 million, and potash is expected to bring in $420.4 million, with an exchange rate of 75.04 cents on the American dollar.
