Children of all ages will have a new option to cool down when those hot summer days arrive later this year, as the Young Fellows Club of Weyburn will be building a $150,000 water spray park adjacent to the paddling pool, to be open by mid-June.

A delegation of Young Fellows spoke to city council at their meeting on Monday evening, detailing the proposal for the spray park, and council unanimously approved entering into an agreement with the Young Fellows to set up the park, which will be operated and maintained by the city.

The plan is for construction to start in early May on the west side of the paddling pool at the Don Mitchell Tot Lot, with the spray park to cover an area of 2,350 square feet or 219 square metres, and will contain 15 different spraying features. The park will include three water cannons, three geyser ground sprayers, four Misty Mountain ground sprayers, one sneaky soaker with five tipping buckets, one rainbow water tunnel, one mist stick, one curvy cane, and one gusher ground sprayer, with two power post activators.

As Young Fellow member Scott Paxman explained, the park will not operate continuously, but will be activated by the children there to use it. In addition, the city can program in that the sprayers will not turn on at certain times, such as overnight.

"We spoke to the contractor and he said he will use all local subcontractors, including concrete, electrical, excavating and mechanical," said Paxman, adding the park will be "zero-depth" so it won't require lifeguard supervision from the city.

Coun. Bill Rudachyk applauded the project and its location, saying, "This is an area where the Young Fellows have put their mark with the Don Mitchell park. I think this is the location to really make this fly. I commend you guys for that and look forward to seeing you there on opening day."

"I think this is an excellent facility for the city of Weyburn; it's things like this that kids will remember about growing up in Weyburn," said Mayor Debra Button.

Paxman noted a large part of the proceeds of the 50th edition of the TV Auction, to be held on April 14 in the Curling Rink, will be going towards the water spray park.

City council passed its budget for 2007, which will see municipal property taxes going up by 2.5 per cent, along with a $10 increase to the base tax bringing it to $410.

The total increase to property taxes, if the school divisions don't raise their taxes, will work out to be 1.2 per cent, as city taxes only comprise 48 per cent of the total tax bill.

City manager Bob Smith explained that the department heads were asked to trim their budgets, and after taking out $410,000 from the budget, spending will still go up by 1.67 per cent.

Compared with last year, spending for general government decreased by one per cent or $14,270; economic development services decreased by 12 per cent or $38,890; police costs are going up by 4.38 per cent or $83,296 (mostly due to wage increases); fire services and public health increased by 1.45 per cent or $11,666); building and environmental services increased by 1.16 per cent or $2,097; transportation services increased by 1.37 per cent or $25,504; parks and playground services increased by 1.85 per cent or $10,596; rec and culture services is up by three per cent or $60,563; and the regional library levy is up by three per cent or $6,673.

One of the major items deleted from this year's budget was $300,000 for the realignment of Queen Street.

For an average $80,000 home, the taxes for the municipal portion will work out to $546, plus the base tax of $410 to bring it to $956. The school taxes at last year's mill rate would be $1,051.68; the school boards won't set this year's mill rate until the province has introduced their budget, detailing the level of funding for education.

Comparing with Saskatchewan's 12 other cities, Weyburn is the fourth lowest for both residential and commercial properties with this budget.

City council approved tax exemptions to a numbered company for a three-phase project on the land where the former Canadian Tire store stood, at 23 Souris Avenue.

The first phase of the project is to construct a new 23-unit condo project, and the developers will market the remaining land for further development, including the location of the old Safeway/Family Foods building.

The tax exemptions approved for the first phase will include 100 per cent exemption for 2007, including on the land; then in 2008 the land and only sold condo units will be taxed at their usual rates from the time of sale, otherwise the units will be exempt; and in 2009, the land and all condos will be taxed at the usual rates.

The tax exemption will be applicable provided that construction will begin before July 31, 2007.

On the other portion of the property, the tax concession will be 100 per cent in 2007, 75 per cent in 2008 and 50 per cent in 2009.

Mayor Button said the exemptions were agreed to "after considerable negotiations" with the hope that the developers will be able to market the remaining portion of the land for further development.

Two requests for tax exemptions were rejected by council, from the Wor-Kin Shop and from Tatagwa Kidz Kare day care.

The executive director of the Wor-Kin Shop, Andria Brady, gave an extensive background to their request, noting that the once-profitable group is now running at a deficit, partly because their clients are aging and are not able to handle the work they once could.

She noted the organization contributes about $1.1 million back to the city in wages and deposit refunds through the SARCAN depot, in addition to providing the recycling services for bottles and cans, paint recycling, glass and tin, and electronics since Feb. 1.

The municipal taxes for Wor-Kin Shop are $8,509, and $9,264 for their school portion of the taxes.

"Concessions scare me. It means someone else has to pick up the tab," said Coun. Dick Michel in speaking against granting the exemption.

He noted that Brady referred to a lack of provincial funding, and said they should put lobby efforts towards getting better funding from the provincial government if they have a shortfall.

Coun. Bill Rudachyk said this very issue was debated at the recent SUMA convention, and the request to give exemptions to non-profit groups was rejected.

"We're not the only community facing this scenario. Unless something happens at the provincial level, I can't see us supporting this," he said.

Mayor Button added that SARCAN should lobby to have unclaimed deposit funds returned to them, whereas right now those funds are going into the government's general revenues fund.

Brady has joined the Environmental Resources committee, noted Coun. Rob Stephanson, adding he wouldn't support a full exemption, but would support a partial one for their job training program.

As for the Tatagwa Kidz Kare day care, council was told that the space they lease from the Sun Country Health Region in the Tatagwa View care facility has now been assessed for property taxation for the first time. Sun Country has told the non-profit day care group that they have to pay the taxes in addition to their lease payments, "and along with wage competition, this may create a severe budget deficit", explained a letter from board chair Tony VanDeWeyer.

Coun. Michel was again inclined to reject the request, and suggested the day care should go back to Sun Country for a reduction in the rent rate since it's a part of their facility.

"They (Sun Country) should take some responsibility and not offload to the taxpayers of Weyburn," he said.

Mayor Button noted that the day care made reference to exemptions being given to other groups, and wondered about council having something in place to decide who to grant an exemption to and who should be turned down.

Coun. Michel said council always deals with these types of requests on an individual basis.

City manager Bob Smith said the only recent exemption was given to the Family Place, as council is giving a $3,000 grant in lieu of a tax exemption. Wheatland Seniors Centre has an exemption, but this has been in place since their building was constructed.

In other city council business:

· Council was asked to consider a change in snow removal practices, to not push snow up on sidewalks; the city will put the question on their web page to ask citizens what they would like and would be willing to pay for, as special services will cost the city extra;

· The city will enter an agreement with the province that will see funding provided to the Tatagwa Parkway for the first time, in the amount of $39,000 in matched funds;

· Fas Gas was given approval to demolish their current gas station operation, and the company will build a new gas station and convenience store on their location at 148 Sims Ave.; demolition is proposed to start this April;

· The Weyburn Senior Beavers were approved to sell beer at their games at Tom Laing Park, subject to the provincial regulations of the Liquor and Gaming Commission;

· Council approved proceeding with a feasibility study on whether Weyburn should have a public transit system or not; the study will be shared with Estevan if its cost is more than $20,000.