Premier Sandy Silver has delivered a record territorial budget for the next fiscal year worth $1.5 billion.

The 2019-20 fiscal year budget, tabled in the legislature this afternoon, calls for a deficit of $6 million, which compares to a deficit of $7 million for this fiscal year ending March 31.

The government, however, is expecting to be back in the black with a budget surplus of $5 million in 2020-21.

Silver told the legislature on the first day of the spring sitting that his third territorial budget is one of prudence, with no frills.

“We have taken the time and effort required to map the terrain, make preparations, and chart our course,” Silver told the MLAs in his budget address.

“You can see that confidence in this budget. There is no extravagance, no adornment to distract, just a singular vision and purpose for Yukoners.

“This is our north star,” he said.

The are no increases in territorial income tax, nor any boosts in fees for things like fishing licences and campground permits.

More than $1.2 billion of the budget will be coming from Ottawa through the annual transfer payment and other funding arrangements.

Revenue generated by the Yukon through income and corporate taxes, tobacco taxes, liquor sales, vehicle registrations and such accounts for $193 million of the budget.

Other expenses, such as the cost of babysitting abandoned mine sites and continuing the implementation of aboriginal land claim agreements in the Yukon, are also included in the budget and recovered from Ottawa, to the tune $151 million.

Of the $1.5 billion in spending this coming fiscal year, just over $1.2 billion is for operations and maintenance, representing a slight increase over the current O & M budget of $1.19 billion.

Almost half – $558 million – is required to cover the cost of personnel.,

There has been an increase in the public service of 160 jobs, most of which were needed to staff the new Whistle Bend Place continuing care facility.

The Department of Health and Social Services has the largest O & M budget among all departments, coming in at $430 million. It represents more than a third of the total spent on operations and maintenance.

The 2019-20 budget for capital projects, including the new French-language high school in Riverdale, is pegged at $288 million, or almost dead-even with the amount budgeted for this fiscal year ending March 31.

As is normal year after year, the capital budget for the Department of Highways and Public Works is by far the largest among all departments. The department’s allotment for 2019-20 is $126 million, representing 44 per cent of the total capital budget.

This year’s highway budget, for instance, has $8.6 million for the northern Gateway Project that includes thebypass around Carmacks to tie into the Freegold Road, which will eventually require a new bridge over the Nordenskiold River.

There is, however, no capital money identified for the Shakwak project, for the first time in decades.

Shakwak funding is generally provided by the U.S. federal government in recognition of the importance the Alaska Highway and what it means for Alaska.

Highways Minister Richard Mostyn lamented earlier this year how the Yukon and Alaskan governments have been unable to convince Washington that more Shakwak money is needed – desperately.

Annual operating and maintenance budgets for individual departments don’t see a lot of variance from year to year, as the cost of running a department doesn’t change enormously over a year, though there are exceptions.

The annual O & M budget for Health and Social Services has gone up by $25 million, influenced largely by the opening of the Whistle Bend Place.

The change in the O & M for Highways and Public Works, on the other hand, is less than $1 million, or way under one per cent.

Departmental budgets for capital works can and do change dramatically, depending on the stage of different projects.

For the current fiscal year ending in three weeks, the Department of Education had $9.3 million for capital projects. The 2019-20 budget has $29 million, as $19 million is budgeted for the construction of the new French-language high school.

Estimates for the top five operation and maintenance budgets for the upcoming fiscal year are:

• Health and Social Services – Up six per cent to $429 million from approximately $404 million spent this fiscal year;

• Education – Up just over one per cent to $185.5 million from $183.2 million;

• Highways and Public Works – Up by less than one per cent to $141.6 million from $140.7 million;

• Community Services – Down almost three per cent to $94 million from $96.7 million; and

• Justice – Down a smidgen to $73.2 million from $73.6 million.

Estimates for the top five capital budgets for the upcoming fiscal year are:

• Highways and Public Works – Up over 11 per cent to $125.5 million from $112.6 million;

• Community Services – Down 21 per cent to $71.2 million from $90.7 million;

• Education – Up by more than triple to $29 million from $9.3 million;

• Yukon Housing Corp. – Down almost nine per cent to $28.148 million from $30.8 million; and

• Health and Social Services – Cut in half to $14 million from $29 million.

See editorial.