The City of Weyburn had a good year in 2002, and the coming year might be even better, according to early indications in the local economy, said Mayor Don Schlo-
sser in a year-end interview.

There will be challenges to face in 2003, primarily that of the budget and trying to hold the line on taxes, but the mayor said there will be growth and construction which will be positive for Weyburn's economy.

"I think we're going to have a hell of a year, with Wal-Mart and Tatagwa View both going ahead, and I know of at least one other commercial building that will be going up in 2003. Also the ethanol plant will be started. If anything, there will be a shortage of construction workers here," said Mayor Schlosser. "I think we've had a good year in 2002, and we're looking at something similar or better next year."

Looking back on 2002, the mayor noted the sale of the old distillery plant in the industrial park as a major piece of good news, after holding the property for a number of years and going through a number of unsuccessful attempts to start new industries there.

"This time it's totally paid for, and we don't have to have a man go out there every week to check on it," said the mayor, adding the buyer, NorAmera BioEnergy, is planning to start construction of an ethanol plant there possibly by spring of this year.

The other major announcement that holds promise for major construction in 2003 is Wal-Mart, which bought a parcel of land from the city on Highway 39 on which to build a 64,000-square-foot retail store. The outlet is tentatively set to be open by fall of 2003, and will employ 100 people in the construction phase and about 100 in the store itself once it's up and running.

Mayor Schlosser said the city has held discussions with Wal-Mart Canada for the last two and a half years before this announcement was made.

Residential construction also had a boom this year, as the mayor noted there were 26 dwellings created by the end of October, 20 of them single-family homes and six multiple-family dwellings.

The new City Hall opened ahead of schedule and under budget in the spring, and Mayor Schlosser said it's made a difference to City Hall staff.

"The morale of the staff is so much better, for the reason that everybody is on one floor. This way is so much better, everybody's one big happy family, and it's helped us be more efficient," said the mayor, adding in the old City Hall the offices on each of the three floors seemed to operate on their own without much interaction with the other departments.

In addition, he said, 95 per cent of the comments from the public are positive about the new City Hall location in the former Federal Building.

The mayor noted there is a lot of space available in the basement as well which can be developed for later use; a small part of the basement is the new storage area for the city's records, and another area will be developed to house the city's permanent art collection.

With the budget process underway, Mayor Schlosser said it may take a little longer with the two new councillors coming on board in November, but biggest factor in finalizing the budget will be when the provincial budget comes down, which will include how much the revenue-sharing grant will be.

"Our biggest thing when we're looking at the budget is to try and look ahead at what kind of money we're going to get from the provincial government. Their budget doesn't come down until March or April, which sort of holds us back," he said.

The council is starting out having to trim $656,000 to balance the budget, as opposed to last year when they had to take the budget down by $1 million.

"The main reason is we said to the department heads don't come in with big long wish lists, come in with the basic things we need. I'm hoping we can hold the line, but that's tough to do," said Mayor Schlosser.

One of the pressures on this year's budget is an increase of about $200,000 in wages and benefits, according to the collective bargaining agreements currently in place, plus an anticipated hike in insurance costs between 25 and 40 per cent. The mayor notes some communities will be looking at as much as 50 per cent higher insurance costs; Weyburn's insurance bill is currently $80,000.

As to revenue-sharing, Mayor Schlosser said the city will likely get the $503,000 they received last year, but noted he and other urban municipal leaders are asking the province to have one cent of the 15 cents-per-litre provincial fuel tax designated for municipal use. The municipalities are asking for an increase of $15 million to revenue sharing, and have been suggesting they could obtain that money from one cent of the fuel tax. It is estimated one cent raises approximately $21 million.

"They say there's no way they can give it because of the financial problems they're in. Our council, along with the other 13 city councils, have said if you can't give us that one cent, we would like to increase the fuel tax to 16 cents per litre. Then that one cent could be designated to the cities, towns and villages which would give us $15 million, and the other $6 million could be given to RMs and northern municipalities," said Schlosser, who is an executive member of SUMA.

If the province agrees with this suggestion, Schlosser said SUMA would insist that the grant money go strictly towards infrastructure projects in their communities, particularly roads. Also the rise in fuel tax would make it more of a user-pay type of grant which should only affect those who are actually using the roads.

Two other challenges city council will be dealing with in 2003 will be, first of all, revitalizing the downtown area, and secondly, what the future of the Colosseum will be. The city will look at what program might help encourage growth and development in the downtown core, and for the Colosseum, there will be public consultation meetings held early in the year to go over plans and possibilities for the rink built in 1961.

While council will be considering what it can do for the downtown area, Mayor Schlosser said citizens shouldn't assume that the city is solely responsible for revitalizing this area, as this should be a job for everyone to undertake, to come up with ideas or proposals.

Meanwhile, the mayor said he values his executive role on SUMA, as it keeps Weyburn's council abreast of provincial developments, whether it's government policy or other areas of interest to the municipality.

A highlight of the coming year will be municipal elections in October, but Mayor Schlosser said they're too far off to make any kind of decision about whether to run again.

"If I had to decide today whether to run, I'd say yes," he added.