Saskatoon councillor opposes property tax hike to help fund DEED

At least one Saskatoon city councillor is saying no to any possibility of raising property taxes to help pay for the city’s proposed Downtown Event and Entertainment District.

The cost of the DEED — which includes a downtown arena — is estimated to be around $500 million at this point.

During a committee meeting Wednesday morning, councillors were presented with a preliminary funding analysis put together by tax and accounting firm KPMG. The options include potentially adding “facility fees” to tickets for events at SaskTel Centre and TCU Place.

Another possibility outlined in the report was adding an accommodation tax to hotel, motel and Airbnb rentals.

Although hiking property taxes wasn’t included as an option, the KPMG report outlined the potential for property taxes to be affected if there are shortfalls collecting Tax Increment Financing (TIF) — taxes collected based on the assumption that there will be an increase in property values in the DEED and surrounding areas.

“As a result, other properties in the City will need to pay more in property taxes to cover the shortfall in incremental tax revenues anticipated to be generated from the TIF zone,” the report cautioned.

Clae Hack, the city’s chief financial officer, said while the goal is to rely on property taxes as little as possible, it’s not out of the question.

“The other options are to find alternative funding sources, whether it be property taxes or one-time funding from another area,” Hack said.
“It’s early days, so the administration is really working on KPMG’s high-level perspective and comparisons to other municipalities and what they’ve experienced.”

During the meeting, Ward 10 Coun. Zach Jeffries said he would not be on board with any potential property tax increase to fund the event district.

“I will signal that if there are even fairly likely contingencies that say, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to go and ask for a general property tax increase to fund a sports and event facility like Regina did,’ I will vote against that,” he said.

After the meeting, he reiterated that stance.

“If we’re going to look at options to renew facilities in Saskatoon, especially for an event centre, we have to make sure that we have a made-in-Saskatoon model that doesn’t follow, for example, what Regina did for Mosaic Stadium, which was to do a dedicated property tax increase. I have no interest in looking at that model,” he said.

Mayor Charlie Clark said council learned in 2018 that aging event facilities like SaskTel Centre and TCU Place would likely attract fewer groups, concerts and conventions to Saskatoon, and there needed to be a solution.

“Our goal is to develop this district that absolutely minimizes our reliance on property taxes,” Clark said, noting a final decision has not yet been made.

The report was received as information, and administration is expected to put together a more comprehensive funding report that will be presented to city council in January.