MOOSE JAW — Holy Trinity Catholic School Division plans to spend more than $4 million during the next three years to upgrade school buildings, although it faces budget constraints because of two ongoing renovation projects.
Division administration presented the three-year facilities maintenance plan during the recent board meeting, with trustees voting unanimously to accept the document.
The report shows that the division plans to spend $4,022,745 during the next three years, including $1,739,570 this year, $779,675 in 2025-26 and $1,503,500 in 2026-27. In comparison, the organization spent $253,765 during the previous school year.
Of that three-year total, administration expects to have roughly $2.65 million in preventative maintenance and renewal (PMR) funding to direct toward those projects. Further, it expects to have $1.25 million in operational funding for minor renovations and contracted maintenance that it could use “to a minor extent” to support parts of the plan.
The division has allocated $626,000 for upgrades at St. Michael School in 2026-27, but that could be eliminated from the plan — or deferred into the future — if the province approves the organization’s minor capital project application, the document said.
Holy Trinity has been applying for provincial funding to renovate this school since 2013 when upgrade costs were roughly $3.17 million. Today, with market conditions and inflation, those renovation costs are roughly $7 million, the report noted.
While the division office has scheduled upgrade projects for the next three years, any emergency expenses that arise would supersede those initiatives, the document added.
Project funds
Spending at schools over the next three years includes:
- Sacred Heart and St. Mary: Only basic repairs and upgrades until Our Lady of Hope School opens on South Hill
- St. Agnes: $340,000, for projects like refreshing classrooms, replacing air conditioning units, upgrading washrooms and relocating the admin office
- St. Margaret: $1,114,370, with most funding spent this year and next on exterior renovations
- St. Michael: $676,000, with most funding in 2026-27 on projects such as repaving staff parking and exterior grading and catch basin upgrades
- Vanier Collegiate: $970,000, including more library upgrades, elevator repairs and exterior renovations
- Phoenix Academy: $4,750, including a new outdoor shed, storage upgrades and new signs
- All Saints, Swift Current: $369,125, with the main projects being irrigation upgrades and annual maintenance
- Christ the King, Shaunavon: $520,000, with projects focusing on major ground and landscaping improvements and exterior painting building upgrades
- Division office: $28,500 for flooring, renovations to shipping and receiving area and meeting room upgrades
CFO Curt Van Parys told trustees that the 2024-25 year “is very, very busy” for Holy Trinity because of the many projects in development or underway. Meanwhile, he expected the division to complete the St. Margaret renovation project by 2025-26, which has been consuming much of the PMR budget.
“We revisit the plan every year and try to fit our plans within the fiscal resources we have available. We have brought in a plan that we know we can fully fund … ,” he said. “Aside from being (financially challenging in later years), it is exciting to have these initiatives done at our schools.”
Van Parys noted that once the St. Margaret renovations and the new joint-use school construction are completed, financial pressures will be reduced starting in 2025-26. However, he did not know whether the PMR budget would increase once those initiatives had concluded.
The CFO added that the province has provided Holy Trinity with nearly $5 million in PMR funding since 2013.
