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Pages 12-16
Inside
this week
& THE THE COUN UNTY OF NEWEL OF NEWELL
SWIFT CURRENT LITTLE THEATRE BACK IN ACTION: LEFT, Sean Erickson and Chris Martens work their way through the delicate dance of life and love in the romantic comedy, The Day Rhubarb Fell From The Sky, written by Wendy Lockman (inset), of Swift Current. In this scene above, Lockman talks to the character played by Brian Dueck. The play, a Swift Current Little Theatre spring production, had a change of venue and is being performed at the Lyric Theatre due to Great Plains College renovations.
Photos by Elizabeth Huber
Springprin
2010
2010
For those in and around Brooks, look for your copy of the Brooks and County of Newell special section inserted in this
week’s edition of the Prairie Post.
City budget focuses on capital expenses
BY ELIZABETH HUBER
SWIFT CURRENT
Is proud to be an award-winning newspaper serving your community
2010
2010 WINNER
There were no real surprises in the City of Swift Current 2010 $54.8 million budget. The $3 million in capital to complete the Highway 1 and 4 interchange and $4 million in upgrades to the water treatment plant — expected to total $14 million by project completion — and $1.2 million upgrades to the Fairview arenas total approximately half of the $16.9 million capital budget. Another $1.25 million infrastructure spending is expected to be directed toward the Springs Commercial development and servicing highway commercial property. The heart of the City, downtown Swift Current, is also getting some much-needed attention. About $75,000 is going toward a downtown street light renewal program and $10,000 will be spent to acquire new downtown exterior furnishings. Comments were also made that the badly rutted intersection at Central Ave. and Chaplin Street would be milled out and have asphalt relayed, according to Mac Forster, City of Swift Current director of engineering. The operating budget also remained consistent with last year. In 2009, $36.5 million was budgeted compared to $37.8 in the current
year. Twenty four per cent, or $4 million, of the operating budget is dedicated to protective services. The biggest chunk of the budget pie goes to recreation and parks at $4.6 million. The cost is off-set through user fees. The third largest budget chunk, $2.9 million is
directed toward transportation, public works and engineering.
“I think this budget lays the foundation for
future growth,” said Mayor Jerrod Schafer. “We don’t have any really exciting major renovations ... certainly we have a lot of capital maintenance.” The City introduced a four per cent property tax increase, which equates to approximately $250,000 revenue for the City. The tax increase was necessary because an additional $680,000 in revenue sharing did not come from the province. Council and administration repeatedly noted the provincial shortfall.
When decisions came down to a tax increase or cutting spending, the only way to cut spending would be to cut services in a City the size of Swift Current, said Schafer. “I think all members of council would agree with me that we are yet to meet a member of the public that suggests we need to be investing
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less in snow removal or we should let our parks and cemeteries go yellow instead of green or reduce garbage collection.” A portion of the City’s Recreation and Parks Department’s budget will be directed toward continued Kinetic Park upgrades, including financing the paving and upgrading washrooms in the saloon. The original budget came in at more than $200,000 said Dean Robson, director of Recreation and Parks.
half.”
“Since then we have actually chopped it in Since acquiring Kinetic Park from the Swift
Current Ag and Ex Association, a number of different programs have been provided out there, he noted. One example, is using the Stockade — former curling rink facility — for indoor soccer fields. “Overall our department will try to re-coup about 42 per cent (through user fees). Kinetic Park last year was over 50 per cent and we expect to maintain about the same recovery if we can,” said Robson. Looking to the future, he mentioned the City
officials are hopeful they will be in a position to have a new all-weather track and bid on hosting the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer games.
Continued on Page 17
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