MOOSE JAW — City council has unanimously approved the 2025 budget, and while some acknowledge that it isn’t perfect, they note that it provides transparency and accountabilty about the work the city will do this year.
Coun. Heather Eby felt confident about approving the budget, saying they identified major items to complete — like the Crescent View Lift Station (CVLS) reconstruction project — and didn’t push them down the road.
Furthermore, she highlighted council’s support for “long overdue” urban forestry enhancements, while she was pleased that city administration planned to continue installing hundreds of new street-name signs. However, she found approving the increases to the waterworks and sanitary sewer utilities difficult, even though she knew they were self-funding.
Having been on council for 12 years, Eby was pleased with what those councils had accomplished during those budgets. Meanwhile, she hoped that in 12 years’ time, future councils approved of the things this council had done, even though they faced their own challenges.
“(I’m) not taking it lightly that it (the budget mill rate) is an increase for citizens — I 100-per-cent understand that — but this again is the accountability piece where we need to take care of the work that … needs to be looked at this year,” Eby said.
Eby noted that residents would likely notice some small projects and see how the city is paying attention to their wants. Furthermore, council approved using $6.5 million in investment earnings to cover expenses, which was “so huge” because work couldn’t be done and there would be a tax increase “that you couldn’t even imagine” without that money.
Overall, she thought the mill rate increase was “reasonable.”
Blame Ottawa
While the rate hike was 5.17 per cent, the federal government was taking two per cent in carbon taxes — which should make residents “mad” — so the hike was actually 3.17 per cent, said Coun. Patrick Boyle. However, the carbon tax is increasing 20 per cent annually and “it’s not going to die until it’s dead” and Ottawa gives back the revenue it’s taken from municipalities.
Boyle added exasperatedly that the city’s 2025 budget contained no federal infrastructure funding even though Ottawa took 50 cents of every dollar from taxpayers.
Future project updates
Coun. Dawn Luhning said the budget wasn’t perfect, but none truly was. Meanwhile, what she wanted was for administration to provide a report in the fall summarizing how the approved projects were doing.
She pointed out that, over the years, council approved projects and sometimes knew — or didn’t — how they were faring. So, before the 2026 budget, she wanted updates on projects or positions like the new chief of staff, new forestry team, and extra pool lifeguards.
“There are things the average citizen isn’t going to see a benefit immediately from (in this) budget,” Luhning stated.
Meanwhile, the cost of everyday goods is increasing, including the City of Moose Jaw’s services, which didn’t make it easy for council or administration, she continued. She disagreed with some initiatives, but supported the overall budget since many “very, very important” capital projects needed completing.
Another summary report she looked forward to was the updated snow-clearing policy, as she noted that leaving snow ridges on streets damaged them because of the freeze-thaw cycle. She hoped that a future council understood the importance of clearing those windrows.
A new perspective
Said Mayor James Murdock, “This has been an eye-opener for me. I had no idea of all the moving components that went into everything of putting a budget together.”
The mayor thanked administration for its hard work in crafting the budget, while he thought that, based on the initiatives that council had approved and the knowledge and guidance shared, members would continue working to put “even more of (its) thumbprint on future budgets.”
“We are trying our best,” Murdock added.
Never an easy task
Coun. Jamey Logan said approving budgets never becomes easy over time, nor was this budget easier than past ones. Instead, it was more difficult because of surprises that required attention.
While a 5.17-per-cent mill rate increase was “a lot,” he felt good about the budget and how council had good discussions.
Some highlights for him were the new CVLS, stormwater utility, urban forestry staff, lifeguards, equipment purchases, Moose Jaw Police Service budget, Centre for Arts and Culture upgrades, road repairs, landfill changes, information technology upgrades, a permitting system, and others.
Improvements in budget process
Coun. Chris Warren appreciated that administration would provide project updates this fall, which would give council a framework for its 2026 budget discussions to determine what was working well and celebrate those successes.
Council talked about “transparency and accountability,” which were good components to have since the additional projects were now on paper for residents to see, he continued. He also appreciated how the budget process had changed since he was last on council in 2019, saying administration had answered every question council asked and offered good analysis, insight and data.
After approving the budget, administration said this was finance director Brian Acker’s last budget as he was likely retiring this year after 34 years at city hall.
