By CJME News Staff and Sarah Mills

Saskatchewan budget 2016-17 at a glance

Jun 2, 2016 | 6:25 AM

Deficit: From a forecasted surplus of $106 million there is now a deficit of $434 million. That number will grow even further when the Crown numbers are included which won’t happen until later this month or into July.

Scrapping Active Families Benefit: As promised in the election campaign, there are no tax hikes. This includes a decision not to increase sin taxes. The province is following a decision by the federal government to scrap the active families’ tax benefit, which gave families a break on the cost of sports and recreation activities. This should save the government $5.5 million.

Prescription Drug Costs for Kids and Seniors: To cut spending with the intention of working to pay off the deficit, you pay $5 more for children and seniors’ prescription drug costs. The cap will rise from $20 to $25. That impacts roughly 66,600 families with children, costing them $20 per year. 120,000 seniors will see drug costs rise $80 per year, on average. The cost of the drug plan has grown by an average of $10 million annually since 2012-13. The higher cap is intended to offset the cost of the annual increase by about $6.75 million.

Municipal Parks: The government will no longer fund five of seven urban municipal parks, including Battlefords River Valley and Chinook Parkway in Swift Current. This cut will save $540,000 per year. Wascana Park and the Meewasin Trail will form part of the discussion on transformational change.

Spending More: This budget it is spending more than it is taking in. Revenues are forecast at $14.02 billion with expenditures of $14.46 billion. The government insists it will have a $6 million surplus by the 2017-18 fiscal year

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Health Spending: Health gets the biggest percentage of dollars with a record $5.17 billion. This includes a $20 million boost to reduce surgical wait times.

Education Spending: Education gets $2.2 billion, which includes spending for new joint-use schools, building repair and maintenance and previously-announced new child-care spaces.

Resource Revenue: Falling oil and potash prices year-over-year have cost the treasury $968 million. This budget projects a benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil price of $44.88 per barrel, with the loonie at $0.75.

Capital Spending: A record $1.7 billion is being spent on capital projects, the largest single-year capital spend in Saskatchewan history. The money will go to pay for schools, healthcare facilities, highways and municipal infrastructure. The government is borrowing an estimated $1 billion which will go in part toward some of this capital spending. Total public debt increases to $14.8 billion in 2016-17.

Transformational Change: Transformational change is the buzzword of the budget as the government looks to deliver public services in a more cost-effective and efficient way. The Ministry of Health is appointing a commissioner to look into reducing the number of health regions in the province and a five-minister committee is being set-up to begin the discussion on what else transformational change could deliver.

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