Taxpayers federation cautious about Saskatoon arena and event district plan

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says the City of Saskatoon should be more up front about the costs of a new downtown event and entertainment district.

On Thursday, the city held a concept launch event at TCU Place, across the street from the proposed site of the new arena, complete with a huge cake and special goggles to view what the district could look like when complete.

Gage Haubrich, the federation’s prairie director, said council has yet to answer the most important question for residents. Where is all the money going to come from?

“Those renders were pretty nice, and pretty nice usually means pretty expensive,” he said.

Councillors Troy Davies and Cynthia Block said the project is still eight to 10 years down the road, but the city’s intent is not for the public to foot the bill through property taxes.

Haubrich said he isn’t convinced, citing a consultant report that indicated the city could add fees to local hotel stays and ticket prices to help foot the cost of the project.

“If not enough people come and stay in hotel rooms (and) if the Blades don’t make the playoffs every year, those ticket tax revenues are going to be down and, ultimately, that’s going to fall on property taxpayers, and council needs to be clear about that,” he said.

Haubrich also cited two other arena projects that turned out to be a lot more expensive than was initially thought.

“Winnipeg used a similar scheme to try and finance a new Bombers stadium, but it backfired and cost provincial taxpayers millions of dollars,” he said.

A design concept for the city’s downtown arena project. (City of Saskatoon/Submitted)

“The initial estimate for the new Calgary arena was supposed to be $500 million. When the deal was inked, it was double that, at about $1.2 billion.”

Council passed a budget in December that included a property tax increase of 6.04 per cent for 2024, the city’s highest tax hike in a decade. Another increase of 5.64 per cent is expected in 2025.

“Taxpayers are worried about this project,” Haubrich said. “It’s going to be dropping a burden on them, because after years of high inflation they’re struggling to afford necessities.”

He said the talk about economic benefits that could from building a new arena and entertainment district may be a lot of hot air.

“Studies consistently find that there’s no huge evidence of positive economic impact, whether it’s creating jobs, growing the economy or bringing in new tax revenues,” he said, “and those are for pro sport stadiums.”

According to the city, a plan to pay for the arena – along with a theatre, convention centre and new public spaces included in the event district – should be released in the coming weeks.

A design concept for the city’s downtown arena and event district project was shared on Thursday. (City of Saskatoon/Submitted)