Regina city council hears plenty of pleas; budget decision pushed to next week

Regina city council will resume budget deliberations next week as it looks for ways to tackle its $10.3-million funding shortfall.

Council met Monday evening to discuss options for dealing with the shortfall, largely a result of the elimination of the provincial grants-in-lieu program, which saw the Crown corporations SaskPower and SaskEnergytransfer payments to municipalities.

Mayor Michael Fougere has said "everything is now on the table"and the discussion on what to cut will continue.

"We're forced to make changes that affect everyone across the city," Fougere told reporters."So, no decision is going to be easy."

• Sask. towns and cities call provincial cuts blatantly unfair

Many delegations, from the Regina Airport Authority to the city's lawn bowling club made submissions to council, arguing why they should be spared from tax increases or programming cuts.

The province has said the cities can dip into their reserves to account for the shortfall. But Fougere has said such a measure would be unsustainable as reserve funds are typically earmarked for projects in advance.

City administration is proposing a number of other measuresto make up for the lost money.

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