Saskatoon councillors get revised arena budget timeline

City staff said council will see a budget estimate in July for a new downtown arena.

Published Mar 13, 2024 • 3 minute read

Dan Willems, director of technical services for the City of Saskatoon. Photo by Michelle Berg /Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Saskatoon city council members gathered Wednesday at City Hall for a meeting of the governance and priorities committee, which is set aside for discussing matters related to how council operates …

ARENA BUDGET

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The committee heard from city director of technical services Dan Willems, who explained why city staff want more time to deliver a budget estimate and preliminary funding plan for the proposed downtown event and entertainment district (DEED).

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Willems said the city is still involved in a procurement process seeking bids from private firms willing to put money into building replacements for the current Sasktel Centre arena and TCU Place convention centre, in exchange for profits from operating one or both of the new facilities.

Bids were due at the end of this month, but Willems said firms have requested an additional month to submit proposals. Willems explained that city staff want to get a potential private partnership worked out so council can consider its effect on the preliminary funding strategy and budget estimate.

Willems said staff expect negotiations to be done in June or July. He said that, should the negotiations run longer, staff will instead present council with the DEED budget estimate and funding strategy in July, then update council later with the results of the negotiations on a private partnership.

Council has previously directed that a funding strategy to build a new arena and convention centre downtown cannot rely on property tax hikes. Previous reports have suggested the city could instead look to things like ticket surcharges and a tax on hotel stays to raise the money.

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Approval of the funding strategy is a significant decision for council, as it would direct city staff to begin working with the federal and provincial governments and other partners towards getting the DEED built.

COAT OF ARMS

The City of Saskatoon has, apparently, never registered the city’s coat of arms or the civic flag. The committee heard there is no record of why this wasn’t done, and there are no staff still around from 1988, when the decision was taken not to register the symbols with the then-newly created Canadian Heraldic Authority, which is overseen by Canada’s governor general.

The committee heard that Saskatoon is being offered a one-time chance to register its symbols free of charge, and that delay could result in an estimated $5,000 cost.

The City of Saskatoon flag was loosely modelled after the American national flag with 13 horizontal bars. The 1952 design by artist Deck Whitehead was rediscovered in 1966, when the city was looking in 1966 to adopt a flag as part of marking the 60th anniversary of Saskatoon’s incorporation. Photo by North American Vexillogical Association

Saskatoon’s flag was designed by artist Deck Whitehead to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the temperance colony that became Saskatoon; it was adopted officially by the city in 1966, to mark the 60th anniversary of the city’s incorporation.

The city’s coat of arms was designed in 1948 by A.L. Atkinson, a University of Saskatchewan engineering professor and heraldry buff, who also designed emblems for several of the university’s colleges, and later created the flag still used by the City of Moose Jaw. Atkinson’s design features an open book of learning, a sheaf of wheat and a cogged wheel, along with the motto “Commerce, Industry, Education.”

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Coun. David Kirton asked for confirmation that the symbol in one corner of the crest is, in fact, a wheat sheaf and not an eagle feather. He suggested he’d like to discuss adding an Indigenous symbol to the crest.

Kirton joined the rest of the committee in unanimously supporting the recommendation to register the city’s current symbols after learning this wouldn’t preclude making changes at a later date.

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