Sask. gov’t introduces balanced budget

The Sask. Party government believes the province’s finances are back on balance.

Finance Minister Donna Harpauer delivered what the government called a balanced budget on Wednesday.

The document includes the news that a surplus of more than $34 million is expected by the end of the fiscal year. The document doesn’t include any new taxes or tax increases during the year.

Two years ago, the government cut deeply in what was termed an austerity budget. On Wednesday, Harpauer was pleased to have completed the journey from that point.

“It was difficult and I want to thank the Saskatchewan people,” she told reporters. “They stuck with us, our population kept growing and the resiliency of the Saskatchewan people that has quite frankly been on this journey with us (has helped).

“So I feel very proud to say that we are not increasing taxes in this budget and we are increasing services and we’re able to maintain that into the future. For that, we need to thank our present premier (Scott Moe) but also our past premier (Brad Wall).”

The opposition NDP remains skeptical that the Sask. Party’s budget is indeed balanced.

“It’s not balanced when it comes to the lives of every-day people,” NDP leader Ryan Meili said. “We’ve seen no removal of the PST from construction, from restaurant meals (or) from all of the things it was added on.”

The government is predicting a surplus of $34.4 million this year, with surpluses of $49 million, $72 million and $84 million forecast to follow in the three subsequent years.

“Obviously the surplus is slim so it isn’t going to be a splash of money everywhere,” Harpauer said. “But we need to pick priorities each and every year and have the balance and the flexibility through that balance in order to focus on these priorities as we move forward.”

Revenues are expected to be $15.03 billion for 2019-20, an increase of $782 million (or 5.5 per cent) over the previous year. Expenses are forecast to be $14.99 billion, up by $382 million (or 2.6 per cent) from the year before.

The government’s net debt, including Crown corporations, is forecast to be $21.69 billion — up $1.8 billion from last year. That prompted Meili to note that the budget can’t be balanced if the debt is rising.

Health, social services and education — the so-called “big three” — are to receive approximately $10.6 billion in funding in the budget. That’s 71 per cent of the government’s total annual expenditures.

Health

The biggest ticket is once again health, where the government plans to spend $5.89 billion, a 2.1-per-cent increase over the previous year.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is to receive $3.6 billion of that, up 3.2 per cent from the 2018-19 budget. That includes funding for planning for new hospitals in Prince Albert and Weyburn.

There is a $29.8-million increased investment in the treatment of mental health and addictions, bringing the total to $402 million. That includes funding for 140 new treatment beds to be opened around the province. $1.5 million is earmarked for the temporary Mental Health Assessment Unit in Saskatoon to become a permanent Mental Health Short Stay Unit.

The government plans to invest an additional $23 million in the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon and $700,000 more in autism funding. Annual payments for each autistic child under six years of age will increase from $4,000 to $6,000 per claimant.

The budget also calls for $558,000 of new funding to support the creation of a new organ donor registry in the province.

Funds also are being set aside for the care of seniors, with the planned replacement of a care home in Meadow Lake and with money toward home-care programs for seniors who live in their own homes.

As well, $1.1 million is earmarked for the Alzheimer’s Society’s First Link program.

The government is pledging $103 million in capital investments for health-care infrastructure in 2019-20.

Social Services

The government is investing $1.43 billion in social services, a 3.7-per-cent increase from the previous budget.

That includes increases of $27.7 million for at-risk kids, $6.6 million for adults with intellectual disabilities, $5.9 million for community-based organizations and $1.4 million for foster families.

Education

The education system is to receive an additional $19 million in funding from the previous year, bringing the total to $3.28 billion.

Operating funding for school divisions is to go up by more than $26 million to $1.9 billion, but education property taxes won’t be increased to pay for that increase.

The government says that $54 million was taken out of the K-12 system during the lean years, but investments over the past two years have restored that money – and surpassed it by $2.2 million.

Funding for advanced education remains static from the year before at $727.8 million.

Capital investments for the year in education are to be $95.6 million, with money going to replace St. Pius X and Argyle schools in Regina, four schools in Moose Jaw, and St. Frances School in Saskatoon. As well, funding is being given to school projects in in Rosthern and Weyburn.

The budget also includes $57.6 million for child care, an increase of $1.6 million from the previous year. That will increase child-care spaces in the province to 16,700.

Highways

The budget calls for $20 million in safety improvements on the province’s roads.

That includes $13 million to work on intersection safety, with such items as signage, sight lines, lighting and rumble strips planned. It’s the first year of a five-year, $65-million improvement plan.

The changes were planned before the Humboldt Broncos tragedy, but the April 6 crash involving the team’s bus and a semi-trailer unit heightened the desire to complete the work.

The government also is investing $60 million in twinning and passing-lane work, including sections of highways 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 39. In all, some 1,000 kilometres of highway around the province are to be improved.

The budget provides $351 million for capital projects, as well as $89 million for the completion of the Regina Bypass in the fall of this year.

Other details

The government is pledging $437 million to municipalities from multiple ministries for infrastructure, an increase of 6.2 per cent from the 2018-19 budget.

The Sask. Party also is providing $251 million in municipality revenue-sharing, which is three-quarters of one per cent of PST revenue.

The budget includes more than $15 million to fund 128 municipal police positions in the province. As well, an additional $1.1 million is to go to drug/impaired driving detection training for police officers in the province.

The budget features a new tax credit for the province’s volunteer firefighters and first responders. Each individual who works more than 200 hours in a year is eligible to claim $3,000.

The tax credit is a key factor of the budget for Harpauer. As a resident of Humboldt and as the MLA for Humboldt-Watrous, she’s aware of the work done by first responders during the Broncos tragedy.

“I am quite frankly very proud and honoured to be able to have the fiscal space in this budget to move forward with that promise,” Harpauer said. “Because of (the crash), I think the entire province has realized the extreme importance of those volunteers out in our rural areas especially and I think it has renewed our gratitude.”

The budget is providing $211 million in investments for First Nations and Metis people, an increase of 4.7 per cent from 2018-19. The document also calls for a $2.25-million increase (to $27 million) for SARCAN.

The Ministry of Agriculture is to receive $391.3 million, an increase of three per cent over the previous year.

This is the first budget that includes revenue generated by the sale of marijuana. The government expects those sales to generate $5.39 million in revenue during the fiscal year.

One industry that will notice a change is potash, where companies will no longer be able to claim deductions against the base tax.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick and Andrew Shepherd