The City of Weyburn has presented its operating budget for 2017, and in one week’s time, both the federal and provincial governments will present theirs, and the impacts will readily be felt by all residents as they are rolled out.
For the city’s part, they will be passing on a modest increase to the mill rate which will translate to about a 0.8 per cent increase in taxes. For an owner of a $250,000 home, this increase will translate to just under $18 for the year, or just over $1 a month.
Going through the departments, administration will be reducing their expenses by 2.8 per cent, fire by 0.7 per cent, leisure by five per cent, and parks and works by 0.2 per cent, with the police department increasing spending by 6.4 per cent, engineering by 22.1 per cent (due to flood control expense, offset by reserve revenue), planning by 0.9 per cent, with an overall increase in spending of 0.2 per cent.
In other words, the City is for the most part holding the line on spending, which is a smart way to go, and the resulting tax increase is small, made necessary by an increase in some expenses, and a five-per-cent loss of provincial revenue sharing, about $106,000.
Will the provincial and federal governments follow suit, and keep the line on spending increases? Countrywide, the economy has not been doing well this past year, although there have been some hopeful signs that parts of the economy are doing better than was expected.
Here in Saskatchewan, it seems likely the budget will be very austere, given the government has let it be known that they are dealing with a huge $1-billion-plus deficit, and have asked all provincial employees to take a wage cut. The premier and ministers, and their staff, have started the ball rolling by taking the wage cut themselves, which of course will put pressure on the front-line provincial employees to do likewise.
With some contracts coming up for negotiation, such as SEIU workers, the province could be in for some very rocky times, not to mention any suggestions of privatizing Crowns will result in an outcry that’s already begun.
The province should look at smart ways to cut spending, not take paltry cuts that only hurt people in vulnerable states. For example, the cut of services at the newly-renovated Weyburn Court House is an example of wasting good resources that hurts this city and area, and will not even be a drop in the bucket of a billion-dollar deficit. Let’s hope the budget will have better sense than that. — Greg Nikkel
