Delegates to the 113th annual SUMA convention were able to get a sense of what life may be like under the new premier Scott Moe, as they heard from him first-hand on Monday only days after being sworn in, and then today, Feb. 7, they will have the chance to grill him and his new cabinet in the “bearpit” session.
Perhaps most telling were his comments about the upcoming provincial budget, his first, set to come down in the Legislature on April 10.
Delegates heard that it will likely be a tight budget with not very much extra or new money coming their way, which most delegates already know. A number of municipalities are in the midst of putting their budgets together for 2018, while some, like the City of Weyburn, have just passed their spending plans for the coming year.
A big worry for all municipalities, large and small, is infrastructure spending, as the need to upgrade water and sewer lines, roads and highways, is universal.
For municipalities with government facilities, such as Weyburn, the grants-in-lieu funding is also a major concern, and Premier Moe said he wants to be able to sit down with municipalities to work out a “fairer” program.
Most communities, including Weyburn, did not feel the way the government handled grants-in-lieu last year was particularly fair.
The grants are to be in lieu of paying property taxes like any other property owner would, and to cut or eliminate the grants is simply unfair to the municipality, especially since they have to provide services to those properties, and all of that costs money.
The premier needs to come through on statements like this, especially as his government is now building towards the next provincial election in 2020 with new leadership. If he doesn’t want to be relegated to the Opposition side of the Legislature, these are crucial issues that will help keep municipalities in good shape, and keep them from having to heap tax hikes onto the backs of their taxpayers.
The government and municipalities worked on revenue-sharing grants for many years as well to make them predictable and sustainable, but now with a new premier, he is talking about sitting down to once again talk about making the grants sustainable. It sounds a lot like reinventing the wheel, after years of discussions have already been held, and the question hanging over every town and city is, will the government actually come through with funding that they can count on? The ball is now in the premier’s court to make good on his words. — Greg Nikkel
