REGINA — The City of Regina has laid out 13 expenditure reduction options for the 2025 budget,
These expenditures include the categories of general savings, reserve transfer, internal services, and public services.
Also included in the report are details of what each cut would mean. One of the bigger potential cuts is taking $500,000 from the Transit Fleet Reserve, which is supposed to receive $6.2 million in 2025.
The Transit Fleet Reserve is helping the city fund the purchase of 20 electric buses over the next two years.
Any cuts to the reserve could mean an additional mill rate increase for residents.
Another possible major cut is reducing dust suppression service on gravel roads adjacent to homes and businesses from two times a year down to one.
"This increases the risk of air quality, visibility issues and resident concern," the report states.
Previously, city council was laid out with eight options picked by administration to cut/reduce to find the $1.55 million in savings outlined in the 2025 budget.
Many city councillors voiced concerns, leading to a unanimous vote on a new motion to redirect administration to outline a list of options where savings could be found. This way, city council could decide on where they'd prefer cuts to be made.
It’s worth noting that cancelling Light the Lights isn’t included in the new list, something Mayor Chad Bachynski said he wouldn’t want to see cancelled.
