The provincial government is defending its latest budget as balanced with "significant" spending increases, while critics from a broad spectrum are saying the government has let down residents, particularly in rural Saskatchewan.

The budget was former Liberal leader Jim Melenchuk's first as Finance Minister in the coalition government, and passes on increases to the budgets of health, education and highways, but the Opposition, educators and municipal governments are saying it's not enough to meet the needs of today.

Weyburn's Mayor Don Schlosser was in the Legislature to hear the budget speech, and joined with the other city mayors in a news conference to condemn the document.

Calling the budget an "insult" to municipalities, Mayor Schlosser said in an interview Monday that Weyburn will get roughly the same as last year, around $64,000 in the revenue sharing grant.

"We feel it's an insult to property taxpayers. We were asking for $15 million, and we ended up with $4.9 million. With all the discussions we had with the provincial government over the last six to eight months, it looked as though as we were going to get a lot more, or at least the $15 million," said the mayor, adding this assurance came from more than one cabinet minister. The municipalities' association, SUMA, also used the term "insult" in reference to the less-than-expected revenue sharing grant.

Besides the smaller amount committed to municipal revenue sharing, Mayor Schlosser said the city mayors were also upset at how this money was distributed, as cities comprise 80 per cent of the province's population and yet received just under half of the total increase of $10 million to all municipalities, rural and urban. On a per capita basis, this means urban municipalities received the equivalent of $7 per capita compared with $22 per capita the RMs are getting, he said.

"I admit they've got roads to fix, but we also have to repair roads, along with providing funding for our library, for the police, for the fire department; the list goes on and on. It was a total insult in the way this was distributed," said the mayor.

Weyburn council put in a preliminary tax increase of four per cent. Mayor Schlosser said council may be able to keep the budget to that level of increase, but added, "Council has to decide if they want to leave it at that or do some cutting to bring it down."

Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Brenda Bakken extended the criticism of the budget by calling it "fictitious" as its projections for growth are very high and the numbers are not realistic.

Minister Melenchuk said with continued high oil prices and a normal harvest this year, the Gross Domestic Product should increase by 6.8 per cent this year.

"First of all, 6.8 per cent growth is absolutely ridiculous. For the top 16 industrialized countries in the world, the highest projected growth is 3.4 per cent, and we're going to double the top growth in the free world? The budget is based on this presumption," said Bakken.

The Saskatchewan Party MLA said the government claimed it would get its spending under control, but noted that under Premier Lorne Calvert the deficit has been growing once again, and is increasing the debt by about $1 million a day.

In addition, she said both SARM and SUMA were led to believe there would be some kind of announcement about education tax, but instead the government said they are going to study it some more.

While there are more dollars for health care, Bakken said this money does not address the long waiting lists for medical treatment. She said she received a phone call from a constituent who is upset she will have to wait two to three years to have her surgery done.

"My question continues to be, where is this money going? It's $2.5 billion this year, and we can't provide adequate health care in this province," said the MLA.

For farmers, she notes the budget was cut by $40 million for this year, leaving farmers to deal with a 52-per-cent hike in crop insurance along with other higher costs.

"Where's the NDP's commitment to rural Saskatchewan? No one knows how this new program is going to work; they haven't even been at the negotiating table until recently," said Bakken.

Liberal candidate Janet Ledingham was also critical of the budget, pointing out the number one disappointment in her book is the broken promise of Premier Calvert to the SARM delegates.

Ledingham was at the convention representing the RM of Lomond, and said, "They told 2,000 SARM delegates that the status quo is not on after a decade of lobbying, and it cuts across rural and urban concerns. It would have been huge; instead, they're going to study it for another year."

The candidate feels the NDP could have gone to an election call had they in fact dealt with this issue in their budget, but they missed the boat by leaving it for a study for a year.

Now Ledingham feels a fall election might be more likely than a spring call, based on the reaction the government is receiving from this budget. MLA Bakken also suggested the NDP may back off from a spring election, by the critical reaction this budget has been receiving around the province so far.

For his part, former Finance minister Eric Cline, now of Industry and Resources, says the province did well with this budget document, and added he would gladly go to the electorate with this budget.

Asked about the commitment Premier Calvert made to the SARM delegates, Cline answered that the commission to be struck to look into how education is funded is a fulfilment of that commitment.

"It's a similar process to what we did with personal income tax reform," said Cline in an interview on Friday.

The issue of education tax is "very contentious. If one party pays less, somebody else will pay more," said Cline.

As to the $10 million to municipalities, Cline said this is an increase of 15 per cent this year which follows an 18 per cent hike last year, and commented, "Those are pretty hefty increases. People are always asking for a lot more, but we're making good progress. We're working towards higher revenue-sharing."

One of the main proposals of SUMA was to either use one cent out of the 15 cents levied by the province on every litre of gas sold, or to add one cent to it, to help fund the urban municipalities' request. As Cline was involved in the budgetary process as a member of the Treasury Board along with Melenchuk, he was asked if SUMA's proposal had ever been considered by the government, and he said no they had not.

"Most people don't want higher gas prices to pay to municipalities. As far as using the fuel tax, we need that money to pay for the plan to fix the roads. We spend more on roads than what we take in through the fuel tax," said minister Cline.

The NDP candidate for Weyburn-Big Muddy, Sherry Leach, also supports the budget, saying that this document is building for the future which will encourage growth and opportunity in the province.

"There continues to be priority funding for health care and education while at the same time increasing municipal funding, meeting the three-year $900 million commitment to highways, and continuing tax reductions," she said, going on to defend the government's intention to study the education tax system.

"Everywhere I go throughout the Weyburn-Big Muddy riding, people in rural communities, and especially farmers, raise the issue of education taxes on property. The government's announcement that an independent commission will be formed in the near future to look at options for change is a significant step forward and one which shows this government is listening to people," she said.

Educators were not impressed with the increased funding for schools, as it covers some increased costs but not others.

Weyburn trustee and provincial president of the SSTA, John Nikolejsin, said the biggest problem posed by the budget is the cut to capital spending.

Teacher salary increases are covered by the increase, he said, but increased costs for support staff and transportation costs were not covered, and this will cost the province's school boards about $15 million this year, plus capital projects were cut in half.

"We are disappointed with the cut to capital spending. It is particularly frustrating that the school restoration program has been delayed for at least one year. We see that as a valuable program for improving our aging facilities," said Nikolejsin.

Weyburn Public School Division secretary-treasurer Gord Young said Tuesday a preliminary look at the provincial budget suggests there's some confusion over the Foundation Operating Grants distributed by the province for education.

Young said it looks like Weyburn will lose about $50,000 in grants this year, out of a total of $3.8 million, when his calculations suggest the division should receive about $150,000 more than last year. It will be several weeks before the discrepancy is clarified, he said.

Capital budget funds available for Weyburn projects won't be known until the first part of June, said Young. The division will submit two projects, at about $100,000 each, for repairs to the roof at Weyburn Junior High School and Weyburn Comprehensive School.

The province pays 65 per cent of the cost of capital projects, if they approve them. "I'm hoping to have both approved but I'm quite confident the WJH project will go ahead," he said. "We've got a major roof problem over there."