Saskatoon downtown arena referendum could cost $1 million: Mayor

Saskatoon may hold a referendum on the future Downtown Event and Entertainment District project, but it won’t be cheap.

A group is currently trying to collect 30,000 signatures in a little under three months in an effort to halt part of the project. If enough signatures are collected, the city would be forced into a referendum, where Saskatoon citizens could vote on whether to discontinue the downtown arena component of the project.

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Saskatoon last held a referendum in 2003, when 44,307 voters rejected the proposal for a downtown casino.

According to Mayor Cynthia Block, the potential referendum would cost $1 million.

While Block said she’s glad people are asking questions, she said she’s concerned about the consequences if the project doesn’t go through as planned.

Simply upgrading SaskTel Centre, as one group member in favour of the referendum suggested, wouldn’t suffice, according to Block.

“We have ageing infrastructure on two facilities,” Block said during an appearance on the CKOM Morning Show on Wednesday.

“There will be extensive costs either way, if we are going to be a city that can compete into the future, creating the jobs and the economic impact that we know we need to have.”

Listen to the full interview with Block on the CKOM Morning Show:

It’s a similar message to the one the mayor shared during an appearance on The Evan Bray Show on Thursday.

Block told Bray that investing in old infrastructure, like SaskTel Centre, would prevent Saskatoon from competing “at the level that it has been used to with similar cities.”

“We will have a harder time getting air service,” she added. “We’ll have a harder time for people having a reason to come to our city, and we will continue to do things like drive to Calgary and Edmonton for things that we could be doing here at home.”

An artist’s rendering of the proposed Saskatoon Downtown Event and Entertainment District. (City of Saskatoon/Submitted)

The main reason the City of Saskatoon is pursuing the project is to add to the tax base and attract more businesses downtown, according to Block.

“This is about so much more than an arena. The public spaces, the free spaces, the linear park that goes to the river – all of the pieces are going to make a pretty transformational change for our city,” she said.

In her CKOM Morning Show interview, Block also reminded listeners that SaskTel Centre is a for-profit venue. Saskatoon Entertainment Group currently operates it and guarantees the city a $1 million return every year.

The new downtown arena would also be a for-profit venue. According to Block, that means “there would be every reason to believe that we could have a successful project with zero impact to property tax.”

The city is currently working on a report to confirm that and provide the latest information on the project, Block noted.