Monday, the province told us all what we'd already figured out: there's not a lot left in the provincial piggy bank for municipal governments. What was supposed to be an increasing scale of provincial sales tax rebates a year ago will now be a frozen fee, leaving Prince Albert with $4.9 million in grants, not the $5.9 million expected.
This, combined with the potential loss of $1.8 million from Domtar (should the owner of the dormant mill win its ongoing court battle to see taxes reduced) will leave the city rather short on cash.
As noted in the story in today's Herald, that has already led to speculation of near double-digit tax increases.
Naturally, we would expect the voters of this city to be a little peeved at the idea of having to fork over additional cash - we'd loosely estimate an average of $200-300 per house.
We're certain that the ever-vocal opponents of the soccer centre project will announce the city shouldn't have engaged in that project, but that's an all-too-easy finger-pointing exercise.
Looking to the future as we must, the Domtar shortfall, should it arise, was not anticipated. If that shortfall arises as it seems it might, we can hardly blame civic leaders.
On the other hand, the provincial tax rebate was never a sure thing, and therein lies a key lesson: never budget for more money than you know you're going to have. Admittedly, the city's position was defensible to a significant degree, for the government made a promise to fork over the cash it's now decided it can't afford.
Unfortunately, a promise - especially a political one - and a signed agreement are two vastly different things, and we wonder if the city made the error of counting cash before it should have.
Either way, the answer is the same: once more, we the city taxpayer, can expect to carry the freight. This is sadly becoming an all-too-familiar tale.
