Although the final decision has yet to be made, taxes will almost certainly be going up in 2010. How much remains to be seen.
At Monday's regular meeting of Estevan city council, Mayor Gary St. Onge indicated that council plans to raise taxes by one mill. St. Onge said the City has a number of projects they would like to complete in 2010 and need the extra money to ensure that work gets completed.
"There were some things that if we wanted to cut them out, we could have cut them out, but we felt they were all very important and that they should go ahead," said St. Onge.
"We also kept in mind that we did not have an increase last year, for various reasons, one of them that the government had taken a greater share of the school taxation and so it would be seen as us jumping in where somebody else had just walked out. But I think this year we feel it is necessary."
Asked if the provincial government's decision not to fully fund the municipal operating grants it provides to cities and RMs was a factor in the City's decision, St. Onge said the extra money - estimated at roughly $500,000 for Estevan alone - would have made a difference.
"We would have had to think about that one," he said. "I think we still would have had an increase but it probably wouldn't have been a mill but I can?t say that for sure."
St. Onge said although they would always like to do more, he is happy with what the City has planned for 2010. He noted city beautification will be a major focus this year.
"We are spending a lot of time and money on beautification. We are doing the boulevards from (City Hall) to Kensington Avenue. That is going to be done and would have come out if we didn't raise (taxes).
"We are starting to get some work done in the parks over in the Trojan area. Those are going to be really nice and if you keep putting it off it is never going to get done and there are some people in Trojan who are saying where is our park that we are supposed to get."
A one mill increase is the equivalent of a six per cent increase. The owner of an average Estevan home with an assessed value of $87,500 will pay an extra $50 dollars.
Though the increase is not a large one, St. Onge said raising taxes is not something the members of council take lightly.
"People have to consider that prices go up and we have staff and their wages go up."
Another factor which could also have a large impact on the bottom line of Estevan home and business owners is the possible introduction of a health levy to tax bills.
St. Onge said both the City and the RM of Estevan have held extensive discussions about the possibility of creating a health levy, but added no final decision on whether to move ahead with the levy, or what the levy should be, has been made.
"We've discussed it a lot with the RM and we have even thrown it out to the other RM's around here," St. Onge said.
"The idea came from the new nursing home because it is thought by a lot of people in our city that there is no way they are going to raise ($13 million) through donations and that we should really look at something in taxes."
St. Onge said any money raised through the tax levy would not only be used as funding for the nursing home, he added it could also be used in the recruitment and retention of doctors and helping St. Joseph?s Hospital attain regional hospital status.
"I feel very strongly in a lot of ways that the City shouldn't be involved in health but what choice do you have? We have to provide at least 35 per cent for the nursing home, that?s not going to change. It?s got to be raised somehow and maybe we can't do it all through donations, maybe we have to all chip in, I don't know.
"This is something we have to look at very carefully when we have something like seven doctors and Weyburn has 14. We've got this big hospital and there is a lot of empty parts in that hospital ... that's not right."
St. Onge said before any final decision is made on a health levy, the City and RM plan to hold a meeting to gauge the public's reaction. No date has been set for a meeting but the mayor is hoping it can be held within the next two weeks.
"There might be some very strong feelings and we want to hear what the people have to say and we want them to come out. We haven't always had people come out but we are looking at holding it in either the Legion Hall or the Multi-Purpose Room and let's fill them for a change."
