Saying they are still feeling the impact of last year's provincial budget, Mayor Fraser Tolmie is voicing his concerns after reluctantly giving initial approval to a mill rate increase for Moose Jaw Tuesday night.  Councillors started with a need for a 4.05% increase and after adding some key staff to departments, landed at the 5.01% mark this week.

City administration presented a status quo budget to councillors and Tolmie says it included the full result of the 2017 cuts that the Saskatchewan Party government made. He says out of the 11% that taxes have gone up over 2017 and now 2018, over 8 percentage points are the direct result of provincial budget decisions.

"Obviously, I'm concerned." said Tolmie. "We've been impacted dramatically by of the decision of the provincial government. I understand that their revenue sources are drained but our revenue sources are limited... and we're at a difficult and challenging time for the City of Moose Jaw. We need to get infrastructure (upgrades) done."

Even without the pressure from the province, over the course of the budget process there were no significant cuts made in order to bring the needed mill rate increase down.  When asked about how residents would feel about a 5% tax increase on the heels of a 6% increase in 2017, Tolmie felt taxpayers would understand.

"We've got to think about the 2016 election and the citizens of Moose Jaw, in a referendum, said that they understood that the community need to pay for this water infrastructure and updates to the city. As tough as it is and and challenging as it is, we're trying to do our best."

Tolmie says it's terrible timing for the city as we face infrastructure pressures and the financial pressures form the province at the same time.

Councillor Crystal Froese echoed the mayor's comments about the bad timing but went on to say that she hopes the province will realize that they should be supporting cities rather than cutting funds.

"When I brought that up at council, it was eluded that whining about this isn't going to help but the Public Libraries rallied together and were able to get their funding re-established." said Froese. "I just don't think the province understands the impact."

Froese is very nervous about the provincial budget after Premier Scott Moe made comments at the SUMA convention earlier this month where he told elected officials that the province is tight on funds and cities will need to tighten their belts.  Moe's budget will also be late so that leaves all cities, towns and villages waiting to see what the impact will be.

"This is really an issue that needs to be addressed. We have no idea!" said Froese expressing some frustration. "Other cities, like us, should be wondering what's coming next."

While initial approval has been given to the 5.01% mill rate increase, council must still ratify the motion at a regular meeting of city council, until that happens changes could be made at any time. Even if final approval is given, changes could still be made and with the warnings given by the Premier, many expect a higher number than what has been approved so far.

Councillors also approved another round of utility rate increases as they put the wraps on the budget Tuesday night.  As recommended by administration, water rates will go up 15% while sewer rates will go up 6%.

Going back to 2002 and including this year's increases, water rates have gone up 124% with sewer rates increasing 123% over that same time period.

Like the mill rate increase, the utility increases are subject to final approval by council.