The provincial budget announced Wednesday includes a lot of things that the City of Weyburn will be looking forward to. City Councillor Jeff Richards was at the budget speech, and shared his thoughts on the announcements.  

The increase in municipal revenue sharing was a big one that Richards liked, as the province bumped up the total amount to nearly $300 million – a 13 percent increase from the previous year.  

“What that will look like for the City of Weyburn, we won’t know right away, but it is good to see revenue sharing increase,” Richards told Discover Weyburn. There was also the announcement of the money for the hospital, money for the courthouse in Weyburn, and then the news that there will be $118,000 coming from the province for improvements at the intersection of 16th Street and 1st Avenue in Weyburn through the Municipal Interconnector Highway program.  

The hospital was another highlight of the budget for everyone in Weyburn. Richards noted that the hospital was built 70 years ago, so it may not meet all the needs of modern healthcare, including the accommodation of STARS Air Ambulance on site.  

“We don’t know what the services are going to be built, specifically, inside of that building yet and that decision will be made by the Saskatchewan Health Authority,” Richards explained. “What we do know is it will be a modern building which makes it easier to attract healthcare staff to our community. 

The money for the courthouse will be used to re-open the Court of King’s Bench in Weyburn, which was initially closed by the provincial government in 2016. The Court of King’s Bench will re-open, with a full registry office once again open in Weyburn, something that has been lacking in the Opportunity City for eight years.