WEYBURN - Weyburn city council approved the preliminary budget on Monday evening, with a proposed tax increase of 6.2 per cent and a $50 increase in the base tax.
For an “average” home owner, for a home assessed at $300,000, the increase will add about $65 to the annual property tax bill, plus the base tax increase will be a total increase of about $115 to the tax bill or around $10 a month, said director of finance Laura Missal. These increases will bring the municipal tax from $1,145 to $1,210, and the base tax goes up from $845 in 2024 to $895 per residential property. (These taxes do not include the provincial education tax, which last year was around $1,362 for a property at this assessment level.)
The City will now hold two open houses, on Thursday, Jan. 16 and Tuesday, Jan. 21, from 5-7 p.m. both days in the Sun Room at the Weyburn Leisure Centre.
Department heads will be present to answer questions, along with the police and fire chiefs, and members of city council, as council seeks to find out what suggestions or comments the public has to make on the proposed budget before the finalized version is voted on.
The last opportunity for input will be on Monday, Jan. 27, when delegations can appear before council to make their points or comments on the budget, and council will vote on the final version of the budget.
The net operating budget for 2025 will total $26,226,575, which includes $23,341,075 for the operating budget, and $2,885,500 for the capital budget. Of this amount, 48.78 per cent goes to wages and benefits; 21.16 per cent to maintenance, material and supplies; 9.47 per cent to professional and contractual costs; 6.44 per cent in transfers to the capital fund; 4.72 per cent to utilities; 2.57 per cent for internal loans; 3.21 per cent for grants, and1.33 per cent for interest costs.
The capital budget includes $110,000 to the police department for new fleet; $12,000 to the fire department for a hose adapter and fittings; $73,500 for the boardwalk replacement, and $200,000 for phase 1 of Young Fellows Park (on the Haig School grounds); $725,000 to repair the roof on the police station; and for public works, $15,000 for asphalt, $300,000 for new traffic lights, $600,000 for a new culvert on Highway 39, and $85,000 for stormwater-sanitary system modeling. There is also $240,000 for a tandem dump truck, and $25,000 for a cold planer skid steer attachment.
Among the initiatives for the Weyburn Police Service is switching over to next generation 911, which police chief Brent VanDeSype noted has been mandated to take place across Canada.
This change will see all 911 calls routed through the Provincial Emergency Call Centre in Prince Albert, bringing some changes to the police department’s operations.
The police also have some recruitment challenges, as the department ended 2024 with four vacancies, to be filled by mid-2025 to maintain service levels. There is also a focus on health and wellness, and on training and equipment for Weyburn’s police officers.
For Leisure and Parks, the initiatives include an increase in per-capita funding for the library to $37.24, an increase in major maintenance work at Crescent Point Place and the Tom Zandee Sports Arena, an appraisal of the City of Weyburn’s art collection, and beginning development of Young Fellows Park.
In public works, the City plans to replace the traffic lights for Fifth Street and First Avenue, and will cost-share with Highways to replace a culvert on Highway 39.
There will also be paving on Fifth Avenue North, from King Street over to Fifth Street, and paving of King Street from First to Fifth Avenues, depending on provincial funding.
