Mosquitoes could be bad in Regina this year

It's time to bust out the bug spray.

The City of Regina is predicting this will be a bad year for mosquitoes. The wet spring has meant more water than usual is pooling in the city. And cuts to provincial funding for mosquito control means the city's ability to battle the pests is reduced, too.

"The total budget in 2009 was $500,000," Ray Morgan, the city's manager of forestry, horticulture and pest control, said Thursday. "In 2010, it was reduced. The actual funding was approximately $475,000. This year, it's $300,000."

The difference means less product, fewer staff members and a reduced ability to combat mosquitoes on the outskirts of Regina, which has an effect within city limits, he said. Crews are attacking high-traffic mosquito-breeding sites first, then moving to smaller pools in the city, before dealing with water on the outskirts.

"The conditions are very favourable for mosquitoes," Wade Morrow, the city's supervisor of pest management, said Thursday. "We can cover the city for $300,000, but I do expect that we're not going to be able to keep the numbers as low as they have been, given the conditions and given the resources."

The province cut the funding after 2009, but provided one-time funding in 2010 that almost made up the difference.

At the time, the province said the funding was in reaction to the wet spring. It also said the incidence of West Nile virus was down and that in future years, municipalities should be able to fund mosquito programs using increased revenue-sharing dollars.

But Mayor Pat Fiacco said Thursday he considers that to be "downloading" of provincial responsibilities to municipalities. He initiated a motion passed at the Saskatchewan City Mayors Caucus meeting Thursday demanding the province reinstate mosquito-control funding considering the high water levels in the province this spring.

The city will look at its options if the province doesn't come up with more money, Fiacco said. Council didn't allocate extra mosquito-fighting dollars in the city's last budget because he believes it is an area of provincial responsibility, he added.

"The reason why the funding was there is it's a health-care issue," Fiacco said.

"I think it's unfair to think that municipalities should be covering the cost of health care. I'm not sure property-tax payers are interested in us doing that. I also believe the province is going to look at this and make the right decision."

But Municipal Affairs Minister Darryl Hickie said last year's one-time funding came after the province failed to live up to its promise of providing the equivalent of one percentage point of the PST in revenue sharing.

This year, that promise was kept, resulting in about $7 million extra that Regina can use as it sees fit, Hickie said.

The Ministry of Health will continue to monitor West Nile in the province, but it's "too early in the season for us to be worried," Hickie added.

"If West Nile, which is different from the nuisance mosquito issue, became a problem, then the province, through the Ministry of Health, would look at it and address the situation accordingly," he said. "We have two distinct issues."

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^{Source Regina Leader-Post on May 13, 2011.}