By Kevin Martel

Price tag on new Mosaic Stadium may still go up

Mar 23, 2015 | 7:07 AM

The overall price tag of the new Mosaic Stadium may not be set in stone.

At Regina’s city council meeting Monday evening, the Regina Exhibition Associated Limited (REAL) – the body that oversees operations at Evraz Place – will ask council to approve raising its debt limit from the current $2.8 million to $13 million.

While most of the money Evraz Place is asking for would be used for maintenance around the facility, a little under $4 million would be used for the new stadium’s food and beverage concessions.

The City of Regina is the only member of REAL. That means if given the OK, that additional debt would be tacked on to the city’s debt limit, which has a cap of $450 million.

By the end of 2015, the City is expected to hit about $363 million in debt. If the $13 million is added on, it will reach $376 million. A City report outlines how there would still be a $74 million window for any unforeseen costs, but carrying the additional debt would reduce the availability of debt financing to support other high priorities that may arise and could potentially impact the City’s credit rating if not paid on time.

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Evraz Place is confident that it would be able to repay the money it borrowed according to current cash flow projections. However, if the facility was to default, taxpayers would be on the hook.

“We don’t envision them defaulting. We just don’t see that happening. The financial model that was looked at in the past and the capacity to generate revenue to pay off the debt is such that we are very comfortable with this one and we don’t see that scenario at all,” insisted Mayor Michael Fougere.

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