ESTEVAN - The effort to bring a new regional nursing home to Estevan is set to receive its biggest investment yet from the provincial government.
The 2024-25 provincial budget, released Wednesday afternoon in the Saskatchewan legislature, includes $2.5 million for detailed design on the new nursing home, making this the fourth straight year the province has committed funds to the long-awaited facility.
Earlier this month, the provincial government released its business plan for the project to the new nursing home committee, providing more insight into the location, size and cost of the project. Due to an increase in the number of beds, the new nursing home is expected to cost more than double the initial amount of $40 million. The new nursing home committee will have to raise considerably more to meet its 20 per cent share of the cost, but renewed local fundraising efforts will not delay construction.
The Estevan area raised more than $8 million for the project from 2011 to January 2015.
The provincial budget has a projected deficit of $273.2 million. Revenues are expected to be $19.86 billion and expenses are forecasted to be more than $20.13 billion. The government says there will be no new taxes and no new tax rate hikes.
The document forecasts the average price of oil will be US$77 per barrel for West Texas Intermediate. Oil production is expected to be 166.7 million barrels of oil for the third straight year.
SASKTODAY.ca and the Mercury will have more details as they become available.
