Regina City Council approves new costs for Indoor Aquatic Facility

Regina City Council is moving forward with the upcoming Indoor Aquatic Facility (IAF), even with its updated price tag.

Council voted 9-2 during Wednesday’s meeting to fund the centre, which now sits with an estimated $285.1 million price tag – $40 million more costly than when it was approved in 2024.

Councillors George Tsiklis (Ward 2) and Clark Bezo (Ward 10) voted against it.

The project’s current costs are based on a Class B estimate, which has an accuracy between 10 and 15 per cent according to the report prepared by the city administration.

“It’s a good thing, in that we’re moving forward with more cost certainty,” said Mayor Chad Bachynski after the meeting.

“The class estimate structure is that we have more cost certainty as we move forward on that project and (these) are tough decisions. We’re making priority decisions on what we do and don’t do as a city and so it’s nice to move forward on that.”

Shovels are expected to be in the ground by early fall and the IAF is set to open in 2029.

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Costs for the IAF will be split by the City of Regina ($205.9 million), the Government of Saskatchewan ($36 million) and the Government of Canada through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program ($43.2 million).

The extra costs come from market volatility, inflation, further scope clarity with the design progression and limited sub-trade capacity.

The city will fund the additional $40 million by repriotizing projects in the 10-year Recreation/Culture Capital Plan to the tune of $30 million between 2026-2031 and by allocating $10 million from the city’s available debt room. This would raise the city’s debt funding for the project from $146 million to $156 million.

The decision also includes a directive for the mayor to lobby the provincial government on behalf of council to except the PST on the IAF project.

Once again, the day was spent with councillors trying to find ways to cut costs. Ward 1 Coun. Dan Rashovich unsuccessfully tried to amend the recommendation to remove the provision to include the IAF’s geothermal heating facility and replace it with a natural gas heating facility.

Later on, Tsiklis unsuccessfully motioned to table the issue to later dates to allow for more consultation through the city’s audit and finance committee and allow it to be reconsidered through this year’s extended budget process.

Ward 7 Coun. Shobna Radons said the IAF had already been approved by the previous council and that city administration had already provided a report made to adapt to the $40 million increase.“Let’s move on, let’s move forward to pave something new that this council wants to do for our community, please,” Radons said.

“I cannot continue to rehash decisions that have already been made. Let’s move forward people.”

Ward 3 Coun. David Froh said it was important to go through with the decision given “resounding” support for the IAF.

“We have been talking this project to death. Let’s get shovels in the ground so our community can have a pool that they can be proud of that we can all use,” Froh said.

Ward 5 Coun. Victoria Flores agreed that it was important to get the ball rolling on the project.

“We’ve received a really great report with options and recommendations that had a lot of information that, if we read the report, it answers a lot of the questions that were asked today and I think it’s important to recognize that,” Flores said.

“The scaled-back options will leave us with a facility that’s at capacity within five years, and waiting and delaying things is going to cost taxpayers more money,” Flores said.