‘Waste of Saskatoon taxpayers’ money’: CTF criticizes $300,000 design firm bill

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is slamming the City of Saskatoon for spending $317,757 on branding for its new bus rapid transit system.

According to Gage Haubrich, the federation’s prairie director, documents obtained by the federation include an itemized bill from Entro, a design firm, which was hired to come up with a name and brand for the transit system – which will be known as “Link.”

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“It’s plain and simple, a waste of Saskatoon taxpayers’ money,” Haubrich said in an interview with 650 CKOM.

“The city shouldn’t be paying some big consulting firm over $300,000, especially when they end up using the same exact colors that Saskatoon Transit is already using. Really, all they’re paying for was $300,000 for someone to come up with a name.”

Some of the specific costs on the bill from Entro included coming up with the name, which cost the city $25,000, according to the documents.

The federation said the “look and feel” of the brand cost the city’s taxpayers another $40,000.

In total, 27 “engagement sessions” were held to help determine the name.

Saskatoon’s bus rapid transit system will be known as “Link,” though the branding is being criticized for coming with a hefty bill. (City of Saskatoon)

The total cost of the Bus Rapid Transit system is expected to be $250 million. The federal and provincial governments are paying $183 million.

The criticism from the Taxpayers Federation comes a day after the city announced it will not be implementing its roadways emergency response plan and clearing snow from residential streets, despite having 25 centimetres of snow fall over the weekend.

“If the city wasn’t spending $300,000 on some fancy consultants to do some marketing, then they could have a little bit more money left over to make it easier for some people to get to work who are stuck on the street,” Haubrich said.

“When people think about what city hall should be doing, they think about three pretty important things: cleaning up the garbage, keeping the roads clean, and making sure there’s no snow on the major highways. They don’t think about all of this money that the city is wasting on marketing for its bus system.”

Haubrich also expressed his disappointment with the city’s proposed budget for the upcoming year, which has been adjusted to include a 5.84 per cent property tax hike.

“There’s always excuses that the city can give as to why they want to spend more and hike your taxes, but at the end of the day the city could do the hard work and find more efficiencies to increase spending,” Haubrich said.

“(It could) find redundancies that they’re spending too much on to try and come back, so they don’t have to raise property taxes every year.”