Weyburn city council began the approval process for their 2018 budget, and after an extended discussion about some of the items that could be cut, council decided to at least allow the top five major capital projects to go forward.
This will allow the staff to draw up tenders, or requests-for-proposals (RFPs), and get ahead of the line of municipalities that will be seeking contractors to do work later this year. The RFPs will enable the city staff to get quotes on projects, such as the work needed to have the street lights repaired on Third Street by City Hall.
There is definitely merit in proceeding in this manner, as the practice in the past was to wait to pass the budget until after the provincial budget has been passed. By the time the city’s budget is then passed, and then tenders are sought for any capital projects they have, many contractors are already lining up their projects for the year and may or may not get around to the ones being proposed for Weyburn. This way, getting an early jump on the projects means the city can secure contracts in good time, assuming the quotes are competitive and affordable.
As to the other aspects of the budget, council has elected to have further discussion on these items, as the budget as it currently stands would increase the municipal levy by 4.74 per cent. Some councillors balked at this increase, and want more time to consider whether there are items that can be cut or reduced.
As city manager Roy Hardy noted, council and staff have had four budget meetings to go over the requests of each department of the City, and staff came up with a list of nine items that could be kept or could reduced or cut.
It took quite a bit of discussion for council to understand this process, as it’s different from any process they’ve used in the past to set the budget — but it’s important to get it right before establishing what taxpayers dollars are going to be used for in 2018.
Some councillors voiced the opinion that if 4.74 per cent is required in order to provide the services needed by city residents, then they were fine with it. Coun. Dick Michel voiced a more reasonable point of view, namely that if it is at all possible to reduce spending in a couple of areas, they need to do it.
One item council declined to cut was a transfer of $100,000 into reserves. It would be wise for council to keep this line item, but as for the other items, councillors need to keep in mind taxpayers want the best and most prudent use of their hard-earned money. — Greg Nikkel