Mayoral candidate Darryl Hickie speaks at a Thursday press conference. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

civic election

Hickie wants rec centre moved and ‘efficiency’ audit

Sep 17, 2020 | 5:02 PM

Prince Albert mayoral contender Darryl Hickie would move to change the location of the planned multi-million-dollar arena and aquatic complex if elected. If successful in November’s vote, Hickie said he would work with council to nix the land deal with Signature Development Corporation and construct the project on other city-owned land instead.

At a Thursday press conference Hickie criticized the financial management decisions of council, saying a failure to plan for critical infrastructure needs has put the city in a tough position. He claimed the city could face up to $252 million of debt in coming years. His projections were based on estimated costs of future projects, assuming the city received no funding from federal provincial or external partners.

“There’s been a focus on wants over critical needs,” he said. “Taxpayers, and I, as your mayoral candidate, have lots of questions about how we got here.”

If elected, Hickie said he would immediately call for a temporary freeze on what he called “discretionary spending” while a city-wide “efficiency” audit was conducted. He explained the audit would be completed before the 2021 budget is passed at the end of this year. He said he was not looking to cut front-line staff, but believed there were areas where spending could be decreased to save taxpayers money.

He also wants to see a whistleblower policy for city staff.

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Hickie produced this graph claiming to show Prince Albert’s potential future debt. (Submitted/Darryl Hickie)

Location of recreation centre

Another place where Hickie believes the city can save money is by backing out of a $6.5 million land deal. City council approved the land’s purchase for the new arena and aquatic recreation centre in the narrow vote in June, but Hickie said only a portion of that has already been paid.

“I think we can stop the process immediately and I don’t think we’ll be obligated to pay the remainder of the $6.5 million,” he said. “We’re going to be out probably $900,000 for sure, unless the company agrees with us and sees it from a taxpayer perspective.”

Citing land title documents, Hickie said in 2013, Signature Development Corporation paid approximately $27,000 per acre for a 64-acre parcel of land that includes the 18 acres the city agreed to buy in June.

“What has made it worth over 10 times that?,” Hickie said. “We the taxpayers are now paying $362,000 per acre.

“I firmly believe without any doubt that once this information is made public as it will be today, I think some of the councillors who voted in favour are going to question the deal now.”

Instead of the parcel in the south of the city, Hickie said he wants the facility built on serviced land the city already owns, like a 36-acre parcel east of Saskatchewan Polytechnic or land next to the Alfred Jenkins Field House.

“We know there’s other land available, the right amount of land is available, even excess of land,” he said. “The public should have been consulted on this and I commit to that as a Mayor if I’m elected.”

Meanwhile, reached for comment by paNOW, Mayor Greg Dionne defended the land purchase.

“When you look at the long list of services that Signature Development Corporation has put into it, we’ve got a great deal,” Dionne said.

He listed roads, sidewalks, streetlights, the relocation of a major Sask Power line, landscaping, water and sewers lines among the services the company would be responsible for installing.

Dionne said other city-owned land doesn’t provide space for the entertainment district Signature Development Corporation plans to develop around the recreation centre. The taxes from that commercial development will go towards the recreation centre.

“We will be adding an eight per cent levy to the taxes [of businesses in the entertainment district], which will go directly to subsidize the aquatic centre, which will be a big help in running this operation,” Dionne said.

Asked to comment on Hickie’s graph, Dionne declined and said he would release a response and his own financial plan in the near future.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom