B.C. budget offers few surprises

B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen unveiled his post-Olympic budget in the legislature on Tuesday in Victoria, and there were few surprises in the economic blueprint intended to pull B.C. out of the recession.

Instead, the 2010-11 budget contained a few new programs for homeowners, no new major infrastructure spending and lots of promises to capitalize on the momentum generated by the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Among the highlights:

• Details of a plan to allow families with children under 18 years old to deferproperty taxes until they sell their homes, a programannounced earlier in the year.
• The return of the popular LiveSmartBC homeowners program, with $35 million in funding to provide grants for homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
• Accessby community groups to an additional $8 million in gaming grants. Overall the program will be increased to $112 million, after being slashed from a high of $156 million in recent years.
• Nosignificant changes for the planned rollout of the harmonized sales tax on July 1, except that all revenue from the tax will be earmarked specifically for health care.
• A new 2010 sports and art legacy fund, whichwill get $30 million for youth sports, coaching and athlete development and $30 million for arts and cultural events and organizations.
• A new northern and rural homeowners grant, worth up to $200, for homeowners outside the Lower Mainland and Victoria's Capital Regional District.

Most ministries unchanged

Spending priorities across the ministries remain largely unchanged from last year, with key public services such as health, education and social services getting small increases at the expense of other ministries.

Health care remains the biggest expenditure, with funding rising to $14.8 billion next year nearly half the government's total spending.

The biggest cut was to funding for the Ministry of Forests and Range, which was cut from $1.04 billion this year to $641 million in the coming year. But the cut was largely because of a $400 million increase in the budget last summer to fight the province's runaway forest fires.

Funding for the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation was also cut from $67 million this year to $40 million in the coming year, because there are fewer anticipated treaty payouts this coming year.

Spending by the Ministry of Community and Rural Development was nearly doubled, from $178 million this year to $309 million next year.

About 1,200 full-time provincial government jobs will be eliminated next year, many through retirement and attrition.

By the numbers

Hansen said the budget had been a challenge to put together but was aided by an economy that was more stable than last year.

In the larger economic outlook, he pointed to positive trends in exports, housing, employment and consumer spending and said the economy is forecast to grow about 2.2 per cent in 2010, a slight improvement over the 1.9 per cent increase forecast in September.

Other key numbers indicated:

• The government is on track to finish the current 2009-10 fiscal year with the $2.8 billion deficitit first forecastin the budget update in September.
• The deficit is forecast to fall to $1.7 billion this coming fiscal year and return to a balanced budget by 2013-14.
• Total government revenue for the coming fiscal year will hit $39.2 with expenses coming in at $40.6 billion.
• The total provincial debt is forecast to hit $48 billion by the end of the coming fiscal year and rise to $56 billion by the end of the 2012-13.
• B.C. continues to have the lowest tax rate in Canada for those earning under $118,000 and one of the lowest corporate tax rates amongst the G7 nations.