The City of Weyburn's budget process for the 2024 budget was laid out Monday night during the regular meeting of the City Council, in an effort to ensure there is transparency to the process.

For Councillor Larry Heggs, this will be his first time going through the budget process as a member of the City Council. He said giving residents a chance to be part of the budgeting process was part of his campaign during the by-election earlier this year. 

"They need to provide the feedback that's necessary for us to govern for them," Heggs said after the meeting. 

The City of Weyburn's budget process will get started at the second City Council meeting of the month in October. 

On October 23rd, the preliminary budget will be presented during the meeting. Presentations will be made by the city manager as well as the various department heads. The director of finance will also prepare a budget proposal report, and explain the budget impacts and summary. 

From there, the residents of the city will get their say through an open house. The city's administration outlined the open house will take place between November 6th and 10th, although the exact date and location have yet to be determined. 

During the open house, residents of the city will be able to learn information about the budget, while also taking part in the process itself through discussions. It was outlined during Monday night's meeting that the open house will allow the public to become familiar with the City of Weyburn operations, and to be informed about the intentions of the budget for 2024. 

"I encourage everybody to come out and have that conversation," Heggs added. "Because it's the eyes and ears of the people that really help us make those decisions."

The next step of the process will be further discussions of the budget at the meeting of the council on November 27th. The councillors will discuss the input from the public, and delegations will have the opportunity to appear before the council to talk about the budget. From there, discussion and direction will go from the council to the administration for the final budget. 

This document will be then presented to the council on December 11th, with the budget being in effect when the new year starts in January, something that hasn't always happened in Weyburn, with the budget on occasion being passed as late as February or March. 

During the meeting Monday night, there were also a pair of proclamations, with Mayor Marcel Roy declaring September 17th to 23rd National Legion Week in Weyburn, and September 18th to 24th National Rail Safety Week. 

Councillors approved the motion for the discretionary use permit to be issued for the construction of the new shelter for the Weyburn Humane Society. Part of the discussion about the permit included adding an amendment to the motion that WHS will need to take noise mitigation into effect for the construction of the new facility. 

A permit was also issued for Big Jim's Brew Shop on 3rd Street, in downtown Weyburn, to set up a street patio in front of the business. This was met with enthusiasm from the councillors, who also heard there was no objection from any of the nearby businesses over the move. 

The council also opted to go with two separate companies for both phases of the installation of a new HVAC unit at the water treatment plant. This will see Don's Plumbing and Heating installing the unit itself, with Prairie Lighting Electric handling the electrical side of the installation. While the overall cost is coming in slightly over budget, there were savings from work done at the dam earlier this year they were able to use to cover the cost of any overages. 

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