Rent reduced for riders, early budget items approved by Regina Council
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Regina's city council covered a lot of ground in a three-hour meeting on Wednesday. With all members in attendance, coun...
As Saskatoon city council’s budget deliberations near, another big ticket item has been added to the list of projects that could be funded.
TCU Place’s board of directors is officially requesting council to consider the construction of a new convention centre, citing the need to replace ageing infrastructure.
“Saskatoon currently holds a unique competitive advantage on the national convention centre
stage as a smaller, inexpensive, yet vibrant and energetic meeting destination,” the board wrote.
“The age of TCU Place is the predominant risk factor in eroding this advantage.”
TCU Place was built in 1968, with a significant expansion added to the facility in 2006.
The board is warning that the facilities ageing amenities could lead to events and conferences passing Saskatoon by, limiting the economic impact of the convention centre in the future.
No pricetag was attached to the ask from the board.
The request comes just days before city council sits down to go through their first multi-year municipal budget.
Included in the budget already is a request from Saskatoon Public Library for a new central location priced at $152.7 million. The library is asking to borrow $87.5 million from the city for the project.
Councillors are also in discussions about a possible new downtown arena in the near future, to the point that the city is holding off on selling parcels of land in River Landing to preserve the possibility of building on those grounds.
The TCU Place board acknowledged the city is being “inundated” with capital proposals, though it stressed the importance of a new facility.
The board said there’s internal work being conducted on feasibility studies to include in an overarching downtown entertainment district plan — which councillors have been considering in connection with a new arena.
It’s unclear how much of an impact any of the big projects would have on the proposed property tax increase, which currently sits at 3.23 per cent or $60.95 for the average household in 2020 and 3.47 per cent or $66.83 in 2021.
Budget deliberations start on Monday at city hall.