REGINA - The City of Regina is seeking a major jump in its debt limit.
On Wednesday, Regina city council approved raising their debt limit from $450 million to $780 million. The increase now must go to the Saskatchewan Municipal Board for approval.
The city’s Finance Committee made the debt limit proposal in their report to council. Councillor Jason Mancinelli explained there was an intricate discussion of the debt limit increase by the finance committee, which consisted of members of council as well as members of the public with different backgrounds.
“It’s a pretty large increase, especially for members of the public new to a committee, for that large of a jump,” said Mancinelli.
“But by the time we were through the debate talking about the inflationary pressures right now, the state of the infrastructure and how it is sitting in our city, and the fact that there hasn’t been generational investments in many of our assets for 50 years to 70 years in some, we came to the decision that it was prudent thinking to go for the increase in the credit because these problems aren’t going to go away. They have to be faced, and the times we are in will call for that credit to be used to get these jobs looked after and to have a city worth living in.”
In speaking to council Barry Lacey, executive director of Financial Strategy and Sustainability, explained the idea was to “provide council and the city with the flexibility when opportunities present themselves to advance these critical projects.”
He said the flexibility was important when it came to advancing projects with time sensitivity, such as the Eastern Pressure Solutions project that was discussed earlier at the meeting to address reduced water pressure issues in the eastern portion of Regina.
Following an extensive discussion on Wednesday, council had voted in favor of an increase of $53 million for that project, up to $162 million.
Lacey emphasized that “increasing our debt limit does not mean that our debt grows. What it does is provide council that flexibility in the future to take on debt if it deems that it is a priority for the city to do so. And so any new debt would only be realized through future council approvals based on need, based on prioritization and a review and analysis of our financial capacity and how we would basically fund that debt.”
In the end, council voted 7-3 in favor of the debt limit increase. It now goes to the province for approval.
In speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mayor Sandra Masters said the amount of the debt increase was needed.
“When we look at the list specifically of such things as water and wastewater and pipes in the ground, types of infrastructure for growth, it’s necessary,” Masters said. “The actual borrowing would come before whoever is the council of the day, according to the priority of that day, whether that’s this year, next year, or the year after 10 year from me, and whether or not will depend. But I think part of the idea is, if we are investing in water and wastewater, we know that drives industry and jobs. It also supports residential development, and those two things also increase the tax base.”
