As part of an over three-hour-long meeting Monday, Moose Jaw City Council approved the 2019 budget.

There will be a 3.01 per cent increase in taxes as the city deals with a $48 million operating budget, a slight increase on the previous year.

In opposing the budget, Coun. Brian Swanson pointed out of the number of job losses in Moose Jaw, including the 100 from the Valley View Centre and the anecdotal evidence of nearly 200 people in trades. He said there has been no growth in population over a long period of time and that there is an alarm bell sounding when 7.7 per cent of last year’s tax levy hasn’t been collected.

Mayor Fraser Tolmie praised what was going on in the city's budget and chided Swanson’s earlier comments about the five-year capital budget’s reductions as just passing on the problems for future budgets.

“We’re not kicking the can down the road,” Tolmie said.

These are tough decisions, Tolmie said, and council has to make the right decisions for the community.

Swanson attempted several amendments to the budget, including one that would have tied the increase in the city’s share of the revenue sharing grant of $214,000 into 50 per cent for the operating budget and 50 per cent for the capital budget. That was defeated.