Government travel spending up 10 per cent

Three days after the provincial government released its travel expenses from April to September, public accounts released Friday show its travel tab increased 10 per cent over last year.

In all, ministers spent $524,658 on travel in the 201314 budget year, compared with $471,014 in 2012-13.

By far the biggest spender was Minister of the Economy Bill Boyd, whose tab came in at $80,896. Next was Premier Brad Wall, with a $58,583 travel bill.

Overall, the Ministry of the Economy topped out spending with $133,905, followed by Executive Council at $71,507.

At the other end of the scale was the Ministry of Labour Relations, with a paltry $3,119 in travel expenses.

Overall, government fell just over $165 million short of expected revenues last budget year, thanks in a large part to less cash from potash and crown land sales.

Here are some of the numbers when it comes to where your tax dollars ended up.

Travel spending by

ministry

Advanced education: $33,215 Agriculture: $41,559 Central Services: $8,492 Economy: $133,905 Education: $19,872 Environment: $22,928 Executive Council: $71,507 Finance: $19,827 Health: $55,420 Highways: $18,822 Justice: $31,026 Labour relations: $3,119 Parks, culture, sport: $13,810

Social services: $29,536

Premier’s office spending

Salaries in the 2013-14 budget year were $393,000, up about $20,000 since 201011.

Total spending, however, is down since 2010-11, from $524,000 to $520,000.

Executive council spending

Travel expenses have differed markedly each year since 2010-11.

In 2013-14, for example, it was $666,000, compared with $704,000 in 2012-13 and $417,000 in 2011-12.

Total spending was up to $15.7 million in 2013-14, compared with $11.6 million in 2010-11.

Ministries that spent less than budgeted

Agriculture: $16.9 million less

This was in large part due to $6.9 million less on financial programs. Regional services and business risk management programs like AgriStability and AgriInvest also saw less cash than budgeted.

Education: $20.2 million less

Kindergarten to Grade 12 spending ended up about $18 million less than budgeted, mainly through school capital projects and education initiatives. Health: $56 million less The biggest change in health spending was $41.8 million less in provincial infrastructure projects. There was also less spent on medical services like dental, nonfee and family health benefits, as well as the medical education system.