EID will require ministerial approval to surpass mandated debt limit

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on August 28, 2021.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

The Eastern Irrigation District will require special ministerial approval to surpass a mandated debt limit so it can pay its share of a major irrigation and reservoir expansion.

Newly released minutes of the EID’s Aug. 5 board meeting show the new projects on major work first announced last fall could add $40.7 million more than expected.

The three-way partnership between the EID, province and Canada Infrastructure Bank to fund expansion at Snake Lake Reservoir, near Bassano, along with system-wide improvements was first outlined last year, then approved at EID plebiscite.

New estimates show that the direct payment by the district for the now $281 million construction plan would grow by $8.1 million to $56.3 million in total.

A provincial grant would need to grow to $84.5 million and the district would also increase its loan facility from the CIB by $20 million to $140.8 million.

That would push the EID’s debt level past a limit set on public borrowing of 1.5 times its annual revenue, and special approval from Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen will be required.

The borrowing is attached to a fixed rate of 1% over a 35-year term.

Outbreaks in Leader

Saskatchewan Health Authority has highlighted to outbreaks in the Leader, Sask., area on Aug. 23, denoting two of more cases at the locations.

The G3 grain handling facility and the Leader and District Integrated long-term care facility appear on the list this week.

Five new cases in the Southwest health zone were reported on Friday. That brings the active case total to 40, with 20 each in the Swift Current sub-zone and the rural sub-zone surrounding Maple Creek.

Case spike in Mont.

Coronavirus cases in nearby regions of Montana doubled at the end of this week.

Officials in Hill County, Mont., which includes Havre, reported 51 new diagnoses on Thursday and Friday, bringing the total number of active cases in the area south of Cypress County to 62.

Another death in Friday’s figures brings the death toll in the town of 12,000 to 47.

Last week, the Canadian and U.S. federal government’s announced that the border would remained closed to non-essential travel until at least Sept. 21.

Statewide, 704 new cases were reported on Friday, marking the highest one-day total since Dec. 14, 2020.