Regina mayor eager to see provincial budget

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere has two main priorities he’d like to see when the provincial budget is announced Wednesday.

The first is the continuation of the municipal revenue sharing agreement. He’s expecting that consistent funding to remain, saying the province has recently indicated it will.

“It’s the foundation to how we establish our budget and of course it’s the long-term agreement which is really I think very much the envy of the rest of the country. No other province gives that kind of transfer to municipalities,” described Fougere.

He added the money is used for things like buildings, fire protection and parks.

The second priority for him would be additional money for infrastructure, which Fougere called the mainstay of moving Regina’s economy forward. He added, in general terms, he’s eager to see where Saskatchewan’s economy is headed.

“I think we’re expecting a budget that’s going to be focusing on some changes that appear to be afoot with the province,” Fougere explained. “When you hear a loss of revenue by a billion dollars you know that there’s going to be impacts right across the board.”

The Wall government has already said there will be a deficit in this budget. Fougere isn’t quite sure how it’ll impact those living in the Queen City.

“It’s how the government responds to the shortfall in revenue and how they may look for other revenue sources as well, or increasing taxes which I don’t think would be in the cards so we’re waiting to see what they’re going to say.”