WEYBURN – The City of Weyburn is moving forward with upgrades to the city’s infrastructure this year, said Mayor Marcel Roy, speaking to members of the Weyburn Rotary Club on Thursday.
“Infrastructure is the backbone of any city, especially the City of Weyburn. We’ve made it a priority for Weyburn’s infrastructure revitalization program, a new program which replaces the old one,” he said.
He noted city residents used to have to cost-share on projects like paving on their street or replacing the sidewalks, resulting in projects being cancelled when residents petitioned them out.
With the new program, the City has budgeted about $700,000 a year for infrastructure projects, completely paid for by the City without residents getting an extra bill for it.
Paving and improvements will be done on Fifth Street (starting up this week), Railway Avenue, Fourth Street in front of the River Park entrance, and Second Street, with sidewalk replacements in a number of locations, including Government Road and Barber Crescent.
Rotary member Myron Fletcher asked about Water Street where he lives, if they could apply to have it paved as it’s in gravel right now.
Mayor Roy said he could send an email to the city engineer and apply for it to be paved.
“We’re going to pick up the pace and get it done,” said the mayor, moving on to the commercial incentive program to help attract new businesses to Weyburn. Under the program, up to 25 per cent of eligible costs for site improvements will be covered with tax abatements for those meeting the criteria.
“On council, I’m one of those who don’t quite agree with this policy, but the rest of council wants to go ahead with it. I’m of the belief everyone should be treated fairly,” he said, noting longtime businesses should be able to get help for improvements as well.
“We’ve got two pillars in Weyburn, ag and oil, and we need a third pillar, of manufacturing,” he said, adding while they can apply for tax incentives, these won’t really do anything for the business. He pointed out governments have funds available for these ventures, and the taxpayers of Weyburn shouldn’t have to pay a share of those incentives.
Mayor Roy noted the City has a number of partnerships going, including with the RM of Weyburn, plus they have partnerships with user groups for their facilities, such as with pickleball players, and Weyburn Soccer, which has grown to be huge in using the park and the Spark Centre for playing.
