Saskatoon's proposed $1.2 billion Downtown Event and Entertainment District, or DEED, is now one step closer to becoming a reality after Saskatoon city council unanimously approved a report outlining a funding strategy on Wednesday afternoon. City administration can now proceed with working out the details of the strategy and securing funding for the project, which includes an arena to replace SaskTel Centre and renovation and expansion of TCU Place.
Administration made it clear that the current plan does not involve raising property taxes as a method of paying for the arena and district, but Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill cautioned that "there are no guarantees at all." "There are no guarantees that we're going to receive funding from the federal government, there's no guarantees that we're going to receive funding from the provincial government, there's no guarantees that the TIF [tax increment financing] allocation is going to meet the revenue projections," Hill said at Wednesday's council meeting.
The city says it will get the money for the arena and district from a mix of sources, including covering about 27.5 to 33 per cent of the project cost itself, with a 30-year debt repayment plan. The strategy calls for the rest to come from the provincial and federal governments, which city administration says is necessary to bring the project to fruition.
One proposal in the funding strategy is collecting an accommodation tax on hotel room stays, which the report calculates could be a.