When evaluating a provincial budget, or any other government’s fiscal plan for that matter, most people are going to look at three things.
The first is taxes. Will we be paying more to the government? In the case of the 2023-24 Saskatchewan budget, the government says no. But they didn’t reduce or cancel any taxes, either.
Next is whether there is a surplus or a deficit. The government says it’s going to have a $1 billion surplus in the upcoming fiscal year. It’s a modest projection. But keep in mind last year the government projected a deficit, and said it would have a few more years of financial losses before a surplus would be coming. Thanks to the price of oil, their projections were off.
Finally, people will want to know what’s in the budget for them. In the case of Estevan, the most high-profile item is $1 million for our new nursing home. It’s the third consecutive year the budget has pledged money for long-term care in Estevan. And the $1 million is more than double the amount we’ve had the past two years combined.
Still, it’s not as much as most of us would like to see, and it serves as a reminder that we’re still years away from having this much-needed new building completed.
Carlyle residents are rejoicing because the budget contained the initial commitment for a new school. They’ve been waiting for a long time, too. But this money is just a start. It’s going to take a while before kindergarten-Grade 12 students are in that new facility.
On the highways front, there will be work done on Highway 39 from Midale to Macoun. There will also be some twinning on Highway 39 outside of Weyburn, Highways 39 and 6 around Corinne, and Highway 6 south of Regina. But it sounds like this could be the last twinning for Highways 39 and 6 for a while.
There could always be more in the budget for us. We could have more than $1 million for the new nursing home.
The budget could have had a commitment for the renovation and expansion of the Estevan Comprehensive School, and the associated construction of a new kindergarten to Grade 6 joint-use school that would house students from five of our six elementary schools.
Since Carlyle is getting a new school, it might be a while now before the provincial government is ready to invest in another large education project for the southeast. At the same time, you have to wonder how much desire there is to have a joint-use school in Estevan.
Others will want to see more money for the classroom, so that school divisions don’t have to consider cutting programs.
There could have been additional highways in the southeast. The Roche Percee access road will be waiting for another year. Highway 47 from Estevan to Stoughton and Highway 18 from Estevan to Outram will also continue to deteriorate.
And people will always want to see tax decreases, whether it be for the provincial sales tax, income tax, the education portion of property tax or more.
If you’re hoping the document would include another $500 per person cheque to offset the high cost of living, then your expectations were lofty.
There is a measure of ambition in the document. The price of oil is projected to be $79 per barrel for West Texas Intermediate. Oil is currently below that amount. If it remains below the budgeted figure, the government will have to make some cuts. The government also expects to receive plenty of money from potash.
If we do wind up with a surplus, the government needs to work on reducing debt while replenishing reserves. The debt has been climbing over the past decade as the province suffered through a provincial recession and had to navigate us through a pandemic that had terrible economic consequences.
The rainy-day fund could also use some attention after being depleted for years.
You’re never going to make everyone happy with a budget. Everyone will look through the document and ask “What about me”? or they will say “You could have done more”. There is a balancing act to find.
Hopefully, the government’s projections are accurate. It would be too bad if they have to reopen the document this summer and cut some projects that need to happen.
