West St. Paul needs to remain affordable while providing the services residents depend on. Responsible budgeting means looking at every dollar and asking whether residents are receiving value for that spending. I would protect spending on public safety, including fire protection and community safety, as well as essential infrastructure and road maintenance. At the same time, Council should closely examine all costs so that we avoid unnecessary duplication or spending. West St. Paul has already reduced its mill rate from 9.1 to 6.2 over the past four years. The goal should be to continue controlling costs, attract more commercial development, and improve efficiency rather than automatically looking to residential taxpayers for more revenue.

West St. Paul’s operating budget rose by $1.64 million, or 17.3%, from 2025 to 2026. Council needs to explain and control that growth in expenditure. The Public Works budget fell by about 2%, despite its vital role in maintaining roads and drainage. At the same time, the protective services budget rose by more than 44%. I support investing in fire equipment and training as the community grows, but residents deserve to see what is driving such a large increase across protective services and what results it is expected to deliver. I would review departmental costs and contracts, protect essential services, and put a meaningful share of growth-related revenue into reserves for future needs.

Managing taxes does not mean cutting down on essentials and services. It means making sure every tax dollar is being used wisely such as protecting core services and infrastructure like roads, drainage, snow cleaning and public safety as previously mentioned. I would also closely examine administrative and discretionary spending, consulting costs, contract and major purchases. I support competitive tendering, regular spending reviews and pursuing provincial and federal grants before placing additional costs on taxpayers. Also, as the commercial tax base grows for WSP we should have that growth to help reduce the pressure placed on residential taxpayers while continuing to provide the services residents expect and need.

For me all areas of municipal spending are important and should be protected from becoming too expensive to continue. To accomplish this Council should continue with their yearly review of all the services delivered by the RM, to determine if there are any gaps, or improvements needed, and to look for savings and effectiveness. Included in these reviews should be Key Performance Indicators (KPI), making sure the time needed, staffing required, and equipment needed match the work required. This would ensure residents are receiving the best value for the services received. In regards to spending, Council should have a monthly review of the financial statement instead of the current practice of quarterly reviews.