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Rural municipalities across Saskatchewan are pleading for financial support as gas prices continue to break records at the pumps.
Some gas stations in Saskatchewan were selling a litre of gas for $2.07 on Monday.
Ray Orb, the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), says small municipalities really can’t afford to pay this much extra in gas expenses.
“It’s a huge concern,” Orb said. “It seems to be going higher and for our RMs who have set their budgets probably going back to January or February and guesstimating what the price of fuel is going to be, many RMs are going to be in a deficit position and that is why we’re raising a red flag over this.”
Orb says RMs are allowed to run deficits, but says most if not all did not plan for gas to get this high.
“If they run into a deficit position, they have two choices: If they have any reserve funding, they would have to take it out of reserve, or they would have to borrow money to make up the difference. It is going to be detrimental,” he stated.
According to Orb, the RMs will feel the biggest impact to their budgets this summer with construction continuing as scheduled.
“We’re hearing a lot of concerns and problems, especially for RMs that are doing road construction this year,” he explained.
“Many of the contractors are coming in and asking for fuel escalation clauses because they too don’t know where the fuel prices are going to end up. It is a bigger concern than we would’ve thought, especially last fall,” Orb added.
Guy Lagrandeur, the administrator of the Rural Municipality of Redburn, says fuel costs for his area have soared to heights he’s never seen before.
“We haven’t done our budget yet, but our fuel budget last year was $100,000. Anticipating (this year’s cost), we’re looking at doubling it to $200,000,” he explained.
“It keeps going up and up and up and I don’t know what the guys (who work for the RM) are going to do. They can’t really stop grading, plowing and building roads and stuff,” Lagrandeur added.
Lagrandeur says he and others in the municipality will have to get creative to find a way to pay for the extra gas costs. That could include raising taxes, which he says is something nobody wants to do.
Both Lagrandeur and Orb say they want to see more help from the government.
Saskatchewan’s government has said it is exploring ways to help lower the cost at the pumps, but nothing has been announced by the federal government.
Orb says one way costs could come down on the price of gas is if the federal government paused or put an end to the carbon tax.
“It’s hurting our economy and it’s hurting people’s bottom line,” Orb said. “It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, ratepayers are feeling the pinch. We are asking the federal government to roll back that carbon tax.
“The federal government needs to look at this and be serious about this to provide some relief, not simply saying it’s nothing to do with them and it’s inflation. It has a lot to do with the federal government right now.”
