Photo: City of Saskatoon

Damage at some of Saskatoon’s riverside public washrooms has prompted City Administration to explore some increased security.

In the first six months of the year, there were 769 incidents recorded at just five public washroom sites, each costing about $5000 to repair on average. Holes in walls, broken locks, shattered urinals, and discarded needles are just a few examples. Councilor Troy Davies says the news was hard to hear.

“It’s very disheartening to see that this is happening, especially with the amount of budget and dollars that go into us having to come back and fix all this.”

Administration stated that monitoring the washrooms could cost up to $276,000 per site and would need to be funded by the 2028-29 mill rate. However, this cost would still save the city the equivalent of 55 of these incidents per year.

Councilor Katherinee McDonald ensured the matter would be considered at the upcoming budget deliberations.

The five Locations are the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan site, the Victoria Park Boathouse, River Landing Pavilion, Permanent Outdoor Festival Site and North Kiwanis Memorial Park.