The annual convention of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities has often been an occasion for the provincial government to offer pre-budget announcement tidbits.
Not this year.
Instead, premier Brad Wall warned the large crowd that the March 19 budget would be tight.
“Revenues are flat,” he said.
“That means we’ve got to make decisions around expenditures.”
The commitment to a balanced budget, which he repeated last week, means those two have to match, he said.
Earlier this year Wall mused about hiking the education property tax to pay for infrastructure projects, and while he didn’t rule it out during his appearance before delegates, he didn’t say the tax wouldn’t be going up.
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He said he got a lot of feedback after raising the issue at the urban municipalities’ convention and most of the opposition was in rural Saskatchewan. SARM fought a decades-long battle to have the education tax on farmland significantly reduced a few years ago.
Wall said that type of tax increase would be a last resort.
“I think coming to (Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association) and SARM and initiating a discussion about what forms of tax, if any, would be acceptable to use for those kinds of projects is the right place to do it.”
He pledged to respond to rural needs in the budget and in future.
He said rural Saskatchewan has been generous with its support of him and his government.
“I will never take it for granted,” he told reporters.
