A decision to trim the City of Regina’s parks maintenance budget may have initially flown under the radar, but it has now blossomed into a big topic for residents across the city.
“I have people screaming at me every day about the damn weeds,” Ward 7 Coun. Shobna Radons said at a meeting of the city’s executive committee last week.
The long grass and untrimmed weeds are the direct result of decisions made during the City of Regina’s contentious 2026 budget cycle.
In November, city administration told city council that a mill rate increase of 15.69 per cent was necessary to maintain current service levels.
After days of debate and various amendments, council passed a budget with a 10.9 per cent mill rate increase in a 6-5 vote — with some councillors saying the increase was still too high and others saying it wasn’t high enough.
Part what got the city to the reduced mill rate increase were cuts to the city’s parks maintenance budget.
It worked out to about 17 employees — mostly summer students — for a savings of approximately $240,000.
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But now, Ward 3 Coun. David Froh said the savings may not have been worth the headache.
“In an effort to save $0.10 to $0.50 [a month in property taxes] for the average homeowner, we made some parts of our city look really unsightly and we have to fix it, right? Residents don’t want to save $0.25 a month to have our community look poorly,” Froh said.
Froh said some parks were downgraded from the maintenance schedule, meaning they aren’t being mowed or maintained.
It means that on some main streets, medians will be full of weeds, Froh said, while standing next to a four-foot-tall dandelion on 13th Avenue.
Rylan Graham, an assistant professor at the University of Northern British Columbia’s school of planning, said parks and public spaces are meant to be a benefit to everyone.
The backlash would be a clear signal that there’s now been an impact on residents’ quality of life, Graham said.
That could serve as an opportunity for council to re-examine its goals.
“What we’re seeing is a reflection of priorities, and priorities not making their way into the budget,” Graham said.
“If appropriate maintenance of park space is important to the community, then there needs to be a serious conversation about what is the actual cost of that?”
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The backlash appears to have already provoked a response from some councillors.
Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo quizzed city administration during last week’s executive committee meeting about hiring staff to do the maintenance.
Bezo was informed that the summer students who normally fill the positions may no longer be available or interested in the work and that interviewing, hiring and training would likely take until mid-August.
Other councillors urged their fellow politicians to pay attention.
“I think we need to be cognizant about what we want and understanding how it affects our residents,” said Radons last week.
