When Finance Minister Donna Harpauer rises in the Legislature Wednesday afternoon to deliver the provincial budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, there will be a lot of attention from municipal leaders throughout the province, including here in Weyburn.  

We asked City Councillor Jeff Richards what is on his wishlist for the City of Weyburn, and he pointed out two key things he will be closely watching for. The first is funding for the City of Weyburn under the Urban Highway Connection Program after the city council passed the motion needed to get started on the geotechnical phase of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of 1st Avenue from Government Road to 13th Street. 

“Our two priorities are both on 1st Avenue,” Richards explained. “The intersection with Government Road and King Street over to 2nd (Street), and then from 2nd to 13th Street to get that rehabilitated.” 

The work on 1st Avenue is something residents have been calling for for several years, and the first phase was taken care of last year with the complete rebuild of the intersection of 16th Street and 1st Avenue.  

The city has applied for funding through the Urban Highway Connection Program as 1st Avenue is also Highway 13, which runs east and west through Weyburn.  

“The other thing, of course, that we keep a close eye on is our hospital construction,” Richards continued. “Hopefully that is to be completed in December of 2025, so a year and a half, or a year and three quarters away. There was just about $38 million in last year’s budget for funding, so we want to make sure we keep that going in the right direction.” 

The amount of money the city of Weyburn will be receiving through municipal revenue sharing will also be highlighted in the budget. The overall amount that is distributed to all municipalities is determined by the amount of PST collected two years prior. For example, this year, the Municipal Revenue Sharing Grant will be $340.2 million, which is to be split among rural and urban municipalities. The amount was announced at the SARM convention last week and is calculated on the municipalities receiving three-quarters of a percent of the revenue collected on the Provincial Sales Tax.  

“We always keep an eye on the municipal revenue sharing, because that is an important piece of our budget for the City of Weyburn,” Richards commented. “That’s over $2 million last year, about $2.25 million, so that’s a great help to us to get that revenue sharing.”