Moose Jaw city council will begin the process of putting together the 2021 budget on Thursday night.

The first budget meeting will include a budget submission from the Moose Jaw Police Service. The police are asking for $10.7 million of operating funding and $450,000 in capital funding. This year, it received $10.1 million for operations and $67,500 in capital funding.

The Moose Jaw Public Library will make a submission for $1.2 million. In 2020, the library received $1.04 million, funding that was reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There will also be submissions from 13 third-party funding groups including:

  • STARS Air Ambulance ($3,500 request)
  • Moose Jaw and District Seniors (Request to be announced)
  • Cosmo Senior Citizens Association (Request to be announced)
  • Tourism Moose Jaw and Canada Day Committee ($94,555 for tourism and $2,580 for Canada Day)
  • Festival of Words (Request to be announced)
  • Murals of Moose Jaw ($13,380 request)
  • Cultural Centre Inc. ($163,410 request)
  • Art Museum ($139,835 request)
  • Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre ($6,537 request)
  • Moose Jaw Airport Authority ($30,000 plus bridge financing guarantee)
  • Moose Jaw Humane Society ($232,962 per contractual agreement)
  • Wakamow Valley Authority (Request to be announced)
  • Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards ($10,000 request)

Budget deliberation dates are set for Dec. 2, 9 and 16 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall each day. Additional dates could be added on if the budget is not finalized by Dec. 16.