Community projects across southeast Sask. face fundraising challenges with inflation

Volunteer groups across southeast Saskatchewan are dealing with the effects of inflation while trying to raise money for community projects.

“We’ve raised a little over $2 million, looking at the building here today that’s basically all spent. We pretty much need another $1 million to finish the inside,” explained David Harris, referring to Yorkton Brick Mill Heritage Society’s new Interpretive Cultural Centre.

“There’s no plumbing, there’s no electricity. The floor is in the building, but we’re hoping to raise another $1 million to finish the project.”

The not-for-profit started fundraising for the project back in 2021. Although they have received donations from individuals and businesses in the community, along with federal grants worth over $800,000, the group said they are still short to completion because of production costs.

“The cost of materials, sub-trades have all exploded, as we're aware from other projects,” expressed the group’s president Larry Pearen.

“We're disappointed because we thought we were close to our target of fundraising. Our plan was to raise $2 million and we've done that. I also have to give credit to the federal government, we’ve applied for three federal government grants and received all three of them.”

Pearen pointed out adjustments to the project have been made in an effort to keep expenses to a minimum.

“Initially we had a two-storey building, it’s been reduced to one-story. We had a basement, we took it out to reduce the costs,” he said. “We’re trying to put it more into perspective of what we can afford as volunteers fundraising.”

One business said the project plays an important role to Yorkton’s history of agriculture and would like to see it complete.

“I can see in the projects we look at with our business, $2 million does not get you very far anymore,” said Harvest Meats president Geoff Propp.

“Projects we were looking at a number of years ago have nearly doubled. Although things have seemed to calm down recently, it’s still very difficult to plan for those kinds of things. These volunteers have done an amazing job with controlling and adjusting as the building as gone on.”

Pool facility faces similar situation

Another group in the Town of Rocanville has also been forced to make changes to their indoor pool facility as they continue with renovations.

"When they first started this project and came up with a number of $2.3 (million), they couldn't have had any foresight that pricing would've done what it has done in the past few years here,” expressed Mayor Ron Reed.

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Since budgeting for the project in 2022, the community received a quote of about $2.3 million for refurbishing its Rocanville Aquatic Centre. Now, expenses have increased to over $4 million to repair the 50-year-old building.

"The pool has been a big part in the community for years. It went up in the 1970s with a big help from the local mine. I believe they had put a lot of money towards the project at that point in time,” Reed said.

“It’s employment for our young students. It’s not just a job you go to and then go home at the end of the night, there’s responsibilities there as far as first aid, life saving skills, and swimming is a big part in Saskatchewan.”

Reed added the community is still working hard to fundraise for the project with the goal of opening the facility by spring of next year.

Keeping up with inflation for ongoing projects

One economist explains why inflation has impacted community projects that started years ago.

“If I started a project at this point in time and I think it’s going to cost me this much, if I buy it today, the longer you take to get it done, the more it’s going to cost you,” said economist Dr. Jason Childs at the University of Regina.

“Imagine you say I’m going to buy groceries today, but prices keep rising. You go to buy groceries in two years, it’s going to cost you more than you budgeted.

When planning for future projects, Childs suggests people budget for inflation in order to keep up with costs by the time they are finished.

“If we think the Bank of Canada is going to meet its inflation targets, you can expect about two per cent increase in costs per year,” Childs explained.

“If I’m looking to do something in about three years, six to six and a half per cent is usually a pretty safe bet. But again, we are just coming out of a period of really exceptional inflation, inflation that most people haven’t really experienced in their lifetime. Last time we saw inflation like this was before the early 1990s.

“These last few years is really exceptional in that front and that’s going to make the difference.”