The theme for the Government of Saskatchewan's 2013-2014 budget was "Balanced Growth," and Yorkton MLA Greg Ottenbreit says that it delivers on that promise.
"We know the province is growing, and there are a lot of pressures and challenges that come with that. We have to be very prudent in doing the best we can as a government to address those challenges, but also keeping in mind the core reason a government is there, and that is to provide services and security to the people of the province," Ottenbreit states.
He says that it's the sixth consecutive balanced budget delivered by the party, and that the party's commitment to debt reduction has continued, with a total of $3 billion less debt since 2007. He also says this means the province has seen a saving of $600 million in interest, which he says has gone back into social programs.
In terms of quality of life investments, he says that many existing programs have seen a boost this year. The Senior's Income Plan is seeing an increase, as is the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disabilities (SAID) program. As well, $10 million is being dedicated to the surgical wait times initiative, continuing to act on a long-standing promise to reduce wait times. He says the goal is no surgeries taking more than three months, and the funding is keeping the government on track to meet that goal.
There will be no tuition freezes for post secondary education, and Ottenbreit says this is because they don't work, as there will eventually be large increases to catch up with expenses once the freeze is over. Instead, the party intends on ensuring that tuition doesn't need a significant increase, and Ottenbreit says that a 2.1 per cent increase in funding for post-secondary is part of that plan, especially as many institutions were expecting a cut. He also says they intend on focusing their efforts more on families directly, with plans such as the graduate retention program, which allows students to claim $20,000 in tuition over seven years after graduation and Saskatchewan Advantage scholarship, which gives $500 annually for four years to students continuing their education in the province.
"That $500 a year outpaces by quite a bit the increases we've seen in tuition."
There are going to be continuing commitments to infrastructure across the province. One of the ways the government is handling infrastructure improvements is through the SaskBuilds program, which is designed around Public-Private partnerships, or P3s. Ottenbreit says this has the potential to bring forward innovative ideas for dealing with infrastructure problems in the province.
"For example, I've heard the finance minister speak of block funding of schools, where we design schools that are very similar, so you save money on design and construction, as they are built very similarly by maybe one organization. Just the efficiency and volume there, we could see through SaskBuilds being able to build a number of schools in a short time, whereas it would take longer time to build fewer schools through a different project."
The government is also changing the funding model for school divisions, based on the number of students in the province. He says that the local divisions are going to see a small increase over the government's financial year.
The education property tax will also see a significant decrease in the mill rate, in order to hold the line on increases. He says that with the tax reassessments on property coming down, it was important to try to prevent a major spike in the education portion of the tax, and this measure means overall the line will be held, though it will vary depending on the property.
Ottenbreit is aware of the NDP's criticism of it being a "credit card budget," but he feels that they are being hypocritical in their assessment. He says that their plan in the last election the province would have been fiscally irresponsible, and that their suggestions are not feasible. He says that while there are many plans outlined in the budget that have a gradual roll out of funds, that's just the reality of funding things in the world right now, due to the sheer cost of new infrastructure. For example, the Parkland College's expansion has the government's commitment, but money will be budgeted as it becomes necessary rather than doing it all in one shot in one year. He says that it is difficult to meet all the needs of the province as it grows, but that it's a good challenge to have.
"With that growth comes challenges, but I'd rather deal with the challenges of growth, doing the best we can with what we have available, without driving ourselves into debt with deficit budgets. I'd rather deal with that than the hardships of decline which we saw over years," Ottenbreit concludes.
