The disasters of 2010 have been a test on the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP), and a new round of changes has been announced to help people who are still recovering from floods throughout the province.
The first change is the hiring of new structural engineers to assess damaged buildings. Four new engineering firms have been hired, bringing the total number of firms to six.
"The number of dwellings that require a structural engineer to do an inspection is over 100, so it takes some time with a limited number.
Responding to the needs of the people as quick and as efficiently as we can, we've hired more structural engineering firms," says Corrections, Public Safety and Policing Minister D.F. (Yogi) Huyghebaert.
In Yorkton, city officials recommended 46 residences and businesses needed structural inspections. In Maple Creek, that number was 67, determined by CPSP building inspectors.
More building inspectors is not the only change which PDAP is seeing. The replacement of furnaces and hot water heaters are being fast tracked in order to get replacement finished as soon as possible. Files which have a furnace or water heater replacement required are being flagged in order to get the funds to the people as soon as possible.
The depreciation of building materials was also reassessed, with the maximum percentage of depreciation dropping across the board. On drywall, the depreciation limit has been reduced from five per cent annually to a maximum 50 per cent to a maximum of one per cent annually to a maximum of 25 per cent.
"If the drywall was in excellent shape in the basement and the adjusters can determine that, then there could be zero depreciation on the drywall," Huyghebaert notes.
Furnaces have also seen a reduction in the maximum depreciation to 35 per cent. Huyghebaert says that the government is looking at partnerships with SaskPower and SaskEnergy to further reduce the burden on people who need a furnace replacement.
"We are being flexible with this program also, because we know there are some people who may have financial difficulties with replacing a furnace, so we're looking at other ways. It's a work in progress, it's movable, it's flexible," Huyghebaert says.
The maximum depreciation value of water heaters is now 10 per cent per year, to a maximum of 50 per cent.
Huyghebaert says that the changes to PDAP have come from listening to the needs of those most affected, and adapting the program to be fair and reasonable to the affected home and business owners.
To date, PDAP has received more than 3,400 claims for a total estimated cost of $7.1 million.
