The provincial budget for 2015-2016 was a tight one, but Yorkton MLA Greg Ottenbreit says that while hard decisions had to be made, they are proud of what they have accomplished for the new year, in spite of a major hit to oil revenues.
Two of the highlights, Ottenbreit says, are the things that haven’t changed. Municipal revenue sharing has been maintained at one per cent of the PST, something municipalities were concerned about, and there were no major tax increases, including not implementing a mill rate increase for education property taxes. While such measures were considered, Ottenbreit says that their priority was to keep the economy strong, and they felt continuing infrastructure investment and holding the line on taxes were priorities to keep the province an attractive place to invest.
“Considering having a balanced budget with a small surplus of $107 million, it gives the financial markets a lot of confidence in the province.”
While there has been no big changes to taxation, Ottenbreit reveals that it was considered.
“Up to the point of actually printing the budget, things like municipal revenue sharing, things like education property tax, things like the sin taxes, fuel tax, was all on the table. We really didn’t have a solid idea of where we were going to end up because the price of oil was so in flux. It was a real debate right until the end where to set our priorities.”
While oil took a hit this year, Ottenbreit says that the fact that the province didn’t take a major hit shows that the economy is diversified and not reliant on one resource. He says that with a lower oil prices, some industries will benefit, especially those which rely heavily on shipping.
“If you consider our budget last year, we’re well under half of what oil was then... that in itself is quite a bit of a challenge. The good thing about the economy of the province now is it is very diverse. We worked very hard as a government to encourage investment in other sectors and build other sectors.”
Yorkton will benefit most with the Parkland College. The government is finishing its investment in the construction of the Trades and Technology Center with the final chunk of the promised $10 million, $4.5 million going to the final phase of construction this year. Beyond that, Ottenbreit says that there will be more training seats in Yorkton.
“We’re still hearing from employers all over the province that one of their main problems is getting well trained employees. Those training seats at the college are going to go a long way to training those trades and technology positions that need to be filled.”
There have been alterations to long-running programs, such as changes to the Graduate Retention Program, which changes into tax deductions and extends to ten years. Ottenbreit says the goal is to make the programs more sustainable, as the change saves the government $33 million. The Active Families Benefit has had a lower family income cap, down to $60,000, which Ottenbreit says is a change to keep the benefits focused on people who need it. The Seniors Drug Plan also has a lower income cap, down to $65,000 annually, for the same reason, though Ottenbreit argues that the cap is still arguably quite high and makes allowances for people whose drug costs are a significant portion of their income.
One thing that isn’t directly connected to Yorkton specifically this year, but has been a continuing pattern for the government, is the continued building of passing lanes. Ottenbreit says it’s an easier way to increase safety on roadways, and as a result is going to continue to be an approach adopted for many roads in the province which don’t command the traffic to twin but still need safety improvements.
As Minister of Rural and Remote Health, Ottenbreit says that there has been significant investment into health, with targeted infrastructure improvement. He says a priority for this budget is improving senior’s care, with $10 million towards programs for seniors in the province. One of those investments will be a new geriatric specialist in Regina, and Ottenbreit says expanding the program will reduce travel time for the seniors in Yorkton.
While a smaller increase than in previous years, Ottenbreit says that sustaining a previous level of increases was not possible, so the health portfolio is as much about being efficient and targeted as it is about improving services.
Ottenbreit admits that not everyone will be happy with the budget, but says that he is happy with where the budget wound up and the decisions they made.
