The message was received loud and clear.

Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart told the Herald the all-party Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services had many of their recommendations reflected in the recently released provincial budget.

Last fall, Merritt was one of 17 stops the committee made in order to collect public input on the 2014 provincial budget.

In Merritt, the committee heard about the need for taxation co-operatives to fund infrastructure projects in small towns, continuation of gas-tax funding, as well as the need for more funding for special needs children and weed management.

In addition to its 17 stops in communities, the committee held five consultation sessions via videoconference and accumulated 674 survey submissions asking British Columbians their priorities for the budget.

The committee made 73 recommendations for government consideration.

“We certainly felt that the finance minister heard our concerns, and heard the concerns that we had listened to across the province,” Tegart said.

Some recommendations were to create more full-time and part-time positions to attract and retain more health-care workers in rural areas; provide additional and targeted funding to treat mental health and addictions; assist cattle ranchers with costs to hire professional engineers to inspect water storage dams, and increase legal aid funding.

Other suggestions included expanding the Ministry of Children and Family Development’s budget in order to cease wait lists, reduce case loads for social workers and support community-based agencies. The committee also recommended reviewing the impact of the Property Transfer Tax on first-time home buyers; developing a tax strategy that clarifies the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export tax – as well as current royalties and taxes – and gives incentives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and encouraging wellness through a tax regime that discourages, among other things, tobacco use.

The provincial budget has slated an additional $243 million for maintaining services for adults with developmental disabilities and their families, $15 million for youth with special needs, $15 million for increased RCMP costs and $6 million in legal aid services.

Near Merritt, one of the taxpayer-supported capital projects the government is investing in is a new clinical services building for Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

Among some of the other highlights of the budget are increases to tobacco tax starting April 1 to $3.20 in addition to a federal increase of $4 per carton. First-time home buyers will see the threshold for Property Transfer Tax exemption move from $425,000 to $475,000 and the phase-out threshold of the Home Owner Grant has been lowered to $1.1 million. LNG industries will potentially receive a two-tiered tax system, paying 1.5 per cent for the first three years and eventually pay seven per cent. Medical Services Plan premiums are rising by four per cent and health-care spending is increasing by $2.5 billion over three years.

Also, starting next April, the new Early Childhood Tax Benefit will provide up to $55 per month per eligible child to families with children under the age of six. Beginning this April, children born on or after Jan. 1, 2007 are eligible for the B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant, which provides a one-time $1,200 grant towards a Registered Education Savings Plan.

The only other province in Canada to deliver a balanced budget for 2014 is Saskatchewan.