There was no shortage of fun to take part in during Spring Break last week (March 28-April 1). In addition to the regularly scheduled activities held at Town of Swan River facilities, the Elbert Chartrand Friendship Centre, the Town of Swan River Recreation Department, Swan Valley Communities that Care, Swan Valley Immigrant Services and the Swan Valley Rotary Club teamed up to bring even more free fun to participate in throughout the week. Shayne Stevenson (left) and Nathan Stevenson (right) enjoy a late afternoon swim

From left, Can Bennet, public relations chair for Mountain View Teachers Association, and MVTA president Chance Henderson recently presented a cheque for $1,500 to Ukrainian Folk Arts Centre and Museum president Jim Perchaluk and Selo Ukraine board member Larry Hrytsay, as Don Tarrant, owner of Reit-Syd Equipment looks on.

MVTA issued a challenge to local service groups and organizations to make a donation to the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund in support of the permanent placing of Ukrainian refugee families in the Parkland.

Perchaluk noted 100 per cent of all donations will go to the families who relocate to the Parkland.

The Dauphin Kings will again try to move on to the MJHL semi finals this Friday following a loss to the Swan Valley Stampeders on Monday.

The Kings took a commanding three-games-to-none lead with a come-from-behind 3-2 win in game two, Mar. 29 in Dauphin and a convincing 6-1 win in game three, Friday in Swan River.

The Stampeders held a lead in both games. They were up 2-0 early in the second period of game two only for Dauphin to stage a comeback for the win.

On Friday, the Stampeders had a 1-0 lead after the first period, but Dauphin took control in the final 40 minutes.

The Kings knew Swan Valley would come out hard in game three, according to head coach and general manager Doug Hedley.

“It was a big game for them. You have to give them credit. They came at us hard for the first half of the game,” he said, adding goaltender Carson Cherepak was solid in goal for the Kings. “He made some big saves and kept it 1-0. And we found a way to come back in the game late in the second period.”

Dauphin scored three times with the man advantage, two of them coming in the third period when the Kings scored four times to put the game away.

“They took some liberties and we capitalized on the power play. So it ended up working out well and the power play ended up being the difference,” Hedley said.

The Kings have proven themselves to be a resilient group, having come from behind on several occasions. So when they do find themselves trailing at any point in a game, they have the confidence knowing they have the ability to come back. But it is something Hedley says you never want to be consistent at.

“But we have been very good at it this year, never giving up and never quitting. And we always know that we’re in every game when you have a goaltender like Carson Cherepak or Keaton Woolsey in net,” he said. “We know our back end can create some offence. We know our four lines can contribute. As long as we stay the course and use our speed and play fast, we have good opportunities to get back in games.”

The Kings, Hedley added, have played a lot of close games this season and things have worked out well for the hockey club.

“The guys are confident whether we’re one goal down or one goal ahead. They seem to stay the course and get the job done,” he said.

Having a never-say-die attitude is important, especially in the playoffs.

“It’s huge. We’ve had a good group all year. Guys get along. They like playing with each other. They hang out. It’s just a good group that’s worked hard, that’s put the time in off the ice and on ice this year. And it’s paying dividends,” he said.

Eight of Dauphin’s 14 goals after the first three games have come from defencemen. That kind of production from the blueline does not come as a surprise to Hedley.

“We knew it was going to be our engine this year. We knew we had some good mobility, some good speed, some guys that can move pucks. It’s been consistent all year,” he said, adding the Kings have had balanced scoring all season, with five players with 20-plus goals. “It’s a spread out offence. We knew we had to create some offence by committee this year and we’ve done that. And it starts on the back end,” he said.

Friday's game five starts at 7:30 p.m. inside Credit Union Place. If needed a game six will go Sunday evening in Swan River. 

Ratepayers in the Mountain View School Division (MVSD) will see a slight reduction in their tax bills as the board of trustees passed a 2022-23 budget focused on the learner and the learning environment, with a special emphasis on the classroom.

While this year’s budget saw an increase of almost $1.5 million in provincial funding for the coming year, an increase of 6.3 per cent, things were a little complicated because a lot of the increase did not flow through the funding formula, MVSD secretary-treasurer Bart Michaleski said.

“They gave us the money in kind of one-time payments because of all the inflationary pressures we’re dealing with,” he said, citing contract settlement costs, insurance and fuel costs as some examples. “But suffice it to say they gave us a fair bit of money in the current year, 2021-22, almost $1.3 million, and then gave us a little over $1.2 million in additional one-time funding for 2022-23.”

As a result, MVSD’s budget is 3.8 per cent higher than last year at $45,458,887, an increase of $1,657,844.

“Our five-year average (increase) is about one per cent, so the budget itself is up quite a bit,” Michaleski said, adding local taxation remains the same at the direction of the province as some of the money received from the government was to offset any tax increases. “So the special levy will remain at the same dollar amount it has for a third year in a row now. Our mill rate will actually drop a little bit from 14.62 to 14.54 and that’s just because we had a little bit of a property assessment increase.”

Residential property within the division has seen a .9 per cent increase in total assessed values since 2021. With the drop in the mill rate residential property valued at $150,000 will see a decrease of $5.24 on this year’s tax bills. Farmland has seen a .3 per cent increase in total assessed values resulting in a $3.03 reduction per $150,000, while commercial property increased in value by .1 per cent resulting in a $7.57 tax reduction per $150,000.

In terms of expenditures, MVSD’s largest increase was in staffing as trustees focused on maintaining staffing levels.

“And, in fact, we actually had in budget, an increase of one teaching position and that was to support the business program at the (Dauphin) high school, the Applied Commerce program,” Michaleski said, adding there were other minor changes in staffing that really did not affect the budget. “Eighty per cent of our increase in budget, $1,375,000, is in staffing costs.”

The remaining $283,256 in increased expenditures for non-salary related budgets primarily included technology infrastructure, insurance, fuel and utilities costs.

The result is expenditures will outpace revenue by approximately $171,000 in 2022-23. It is only the second time in Michaleski’s career with the division that the board has approved a deficit budget.

“I’m not a big proponent of deficit budgeting, nor is the board,” Michaleski said.

Michaleski said the decision to run a deficit was made after meeting with the province where the division indicated the $1.3 million increase received for 2021-22 was more than what was needed, while the $1.2 million received for the coming year was not enough.

“The department basically said because every division is in the same boat with all these costs . . . if you needed more of that money in 2022-23 than in the current year just designate some of that (2021-22) money as surplus in your financial statements and carry it forward to next year and use it to offset your budget,” he said, adding the province is planning to have a new funding formula in place in 2023-24. “Based on how this new formula is supposed to work for us, it shouldn’t be an issue. So that’s why we agreed to do a deficit budget. Obviously, they’re going to have to manage things just to make sure that they can mitigate that deficit as much as they can next year.”

Board chair Floyd Martens said the transition that is occurring in education highlights that the majority of available resources are being prescribed to school divisions, providing budget revenue totals that are finite, including the dollars generated through local taxation.

MVSD worked hard to make the tough decisions on where those resources are best used, he added.

“The deliberations required to prepare and finalize the 2022-23 operating budget become increasingly more difficult as greater restrictions are placed on available funding. These restrictions impact how we can address what our communities want for their educational system,” Martens said. “We are confident in our budget decisions as they prioritize the needs of the learner and the classroom.”

The Dauphin Multi-Purpose Senior Centre has a new name.

As of Friday, the facility will be known as the Dauphin Active Living Centre (DALC).

DALC president Esther Fyk said administrator and program co-ordinator Kim Armstrong kept nudging the board of directors towards changing the name of the centre.

“We wanted to see if we could deal with the idea that the senior centre is just for old people. So we wanted to see if we could change that stigma a bit. So we have chosen the Dauphin Active Living Centre, which I think is more inclusive,” she said.

While the centre was geared more towards the city’s older residents, Fyk said the centre is open to people of all ages.

“This isn’t just for ‘old people’. This is an active living centre,” she said. “We would like to see more people participate in our programs, of course. And that includes some of the activities that we have, particularly on Tuesday afternoons. We have the sip and stitch on Thursday afternoons, as well.”

Fyk said the centre would be ideal for people with jobs involving shift work looking to fill some time between shifts.

“We’re really looking forward to this name change and hoping that it will open the doors to more people participating in our programs,” Fyk said.

A new sign will be installed soon, with the date for the unveiling celebration to be announced soon, as well.

With pandemic restrictions lifted, Hillman Studio dancers have returned to the stage.

Recently the dancers competed in two competitions and are preparing for their year-end recital.

Check this week's Review for much more!

There wasn’t a lot on the agenda as the Roblin & District Chamber of Commerce held its annual general meeting via Zoom March 30.

Ten people took in the AGM including the chamber’s new office manager Lydia Steciuk who has taken over the position from Wanda Jordan.

Check this week's Roblin Review for more!

Ratepayers in the Mountain View School Division (MVSD) will see a slight reduction in their tax bills as the board of trustees passed a 2022-23 budget focused on the learner and the learning environment, with a special emphasis on the classroom.

While this year’s budget saw an increase of almost $1.5 million in provincial funding for the coming year, an increase of 6.3 per cent, things were a little complicated because a lot of the increase did not flow through funding formula, MVSD secretary-treasurer Bart Michaleski said.

There's lots more details in this week's Roblin Review.

Prairie Mountain Health has announced another temporary suspension of emergency services at the Roblin Health Centre.

Until further notice, there will be no emergency services available in Roblin from Monday to Friday.

Check this week's Review for more.

The Terry Fox Foundation has released the Top 50 of 2021 in Manitoba schools list and École Opasquia School made a huge impact landing fourth out of 25 Elementary schools and 6th out of 50 elementary/secondary schools.
Back in October of the 2021, the school had set a fundraising goal of $5373 which was the equivalent of one dollar for every kilometer Terry Fox had run.