Impact of new budget won’t be ‘terribly significant’ to M.L.: Mayor

While most cities around the province scramble to figure out how to adjust their budgets after cuts in the new provincial budget, the mayor of Meadow Lake doesn’t think it will have the same impact on his community.

The Sask. Party released its proposed budget on Wednesday which included a lot of new implications aimed at reducing the $1.2 billion deficit.

While the implication of PST on construction work has affected communities like North Battleford to the tune of an additional $500,000 in unbudgeted costs, Meadow Lake Mayor Gary Vidal isn’t too concerned about the impact on his city.

“The implications for Meadow Lake from what we can find out, and we’re not 100 per cent certain, but from what have found out so far, they are not going to be terribly significant,” Vidal said. “In Meadow Lake we were not getting any grants for Sask Power. We were getting some for Sask. Energy.”

According to Vidal, the cut on the grants for the Sask Energy buildings comes out to roughly $50,000 to $60,000, which is an amount he is confident administration can balance. As for the increase in PST and it being tagged on services like construction, Vidal wasn’t concerned either.

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“The increase in PST and added costs are tough to measure right now,” Vidal said. “We don’t anticipate it being something we can’t manage in the context of our budget.”

The mayor added exactly how much additional cost the city is facing will become clearer at city council this upcoming Monday.

Vidal wasn’t willing to comment on the $1 million the province is putting towards crime reduction because he wasn’t sure how the funds would be allocated, nor the funding cuts to school boards. The mayor did say it was a good thing the province decided against school board amalgamation.

“There was a lot of push back on that,” Vidal said. “They heard the voice of the people and decided local influence was obviously more valuable than what the potential cost saving might be… I think what they are doing is asking those local school boards to figure out how to save a few bucks.”

The mayor said another positive he found in the budget was municipal revenue sharing was untouched. One per cent of total money collected from PST is pooled together and then distributed to communities in the revenue sharing program.

“We are happy about that,” Vidal said. “We are happy with some of the money that is committed to some of the infrastructural projects being developed. We will take advantage of as many of those things as we can.”

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins.