A report to Saskatoon’s Governance and Priorities Committee suggests holding off for a bit on signing a private partner agreement with OVG for the proposed Downtown Event and Entertainment District.

Director of Technical Services, Dan Willems told the committee, which all the City Councillors and the Mayor are on, that at this point OVG has agreed with the terms after some adjustments, but nothing has been officially signed because Council hasn’t approved it yet, and because of the uncertainty these days, he suggest they pause on signing for about six months and then report back.

He pointed to the possibility for tariffs and retaliatory tariffs, the ensuing rising costs, and the upcoming federal election which could all effect the economy for Canadians. He said, “This is a major business decision for the city and a pause on moving forward with a decision at this time will provide additional time to monitor and assess the economic and political environment in the context of the agreement framework. The Administration will continue to monitor the evolving political and economic environment and will report back on this matter in no later than six months.”

Willems stressed that there are no financial implications to waiting, because no contracts have been signed yet. City Manager, Jeff Jorgenson, emphasized that no contracts have officially been signed so there are no financial penalties for waiting.

He added that this doesn’t mean no work will be done behind the scenes in the meantime, saying, “We need to make sure we’ve got business partner support, so hotel industry partnerships. We have to make sure there is business and community support, A lot of people in the public don’t understand for example that the funding strategy does not rely on property tax. We have said it a hundred times, but there is still a belief that it does rely on a property tax.”

Jorgenson said the funding strategy includes public and private contributions, grants, and user fees with no property tax increase.