Rent reduced for Riders, early budget items approved by Regina Council

Regina’s city council covered a lot of ground in a three-hour meeting on Wednesday.

With all members in attendance, council approved several items unanimously, including the 1.34 per cent mill rate increase required to take on debt associated with the $100 million Water Network Expansion Project.

Chad Bachynski, the city’s newly elected mayor, said the meeting went fairly well.

“One of my biggest priorities was getting an operating model together and getting people to buy in, and so far everybody has,” he told reporters after the meeting.

“The goal is to have that regular communication and cadence with every councilor to make sure that we all understand where folks are coming from.”

Some councillors expressed concern about reducing the amount of money owed by the Roughriders. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

Council also approved $92.4 million for General Fund capital projects in 2025-26, $131.7 million for Utility Fund capital projects, and $5.6 million for the operation and maintenance of Mosaic Stadium and 2025 community investments.

Due to the recent municipal election and turnover on city council, budget talks were pushed to March in order to give the new councillors more time to familiarize themselves with some of the issues up for debate. However, some projects required pre-approval to accommodate procurement and requests for proposals.

Bachynski said the number of unanimous decisions was a sign that the information relayed to council by city staff is accurate and well-understood.

“Good questions are getting asked and when they need to, otherwise people are understanding what they’re getting in front of them,” he said.

Retroactive Roughrider rent

One matter that did receive a bit of scrutiny at council was the decision to retroactively slash $1.33 million in rent that the Saskatchewan Roughriders owed for renting Mosaic Stadium during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Regina city council approved several early budget items ahead of full discussions in March. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

The reduction comes with the condition that the Riders would be on the hook for $2.2 million.

City manager Niki Anderson said both the Riders and the city agreed it was a reasonable compromise.

“As far as the Riders are concerned, this is as reasonable as it gets before it would move on to a court case,” Anderson said.

“Administratively, I can absolutely see both sides. But from a legal perspective, the risk of going to court and where it could land is not a risk that I would want to take, financially.”

Although representatives of the Saskatchewan Roughriders were invited to appear before council, none were present.

“I am finding it very difficult to support this request and, based on what I’ve heard from my residents, I don’t believe I will be supporting it,” said Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak.

“Although, to be clear, I understand administration’s position that they think this is a reasonable step forward. I’m also here to represent my residents and their concerns, and can’t even get answers to their questions.”

The motion passed, with Zachidniak and Ward 6 Coun. Victoria Flores voting against it.

Federal funding for homelessness encampments

Another unanimous decision on Wednesday was council’s approval of an initiative to accept federal funds to address the issue of homeless encampments.

The funds will be accessed through the Government of Canada’s Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampment Initiative. The city will also seek to allocate a portion of the federal funding to Regina’s Street Team and the YWCA.

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Deliberations about the city’s flag protocol were tabled until January 28.

Council also approved the money for the Regina Police Service’s fleet, as well as its technological services, furniture, fixtures and equipment.

Ward 5 Coun. Sarah Turnbull recused herself during the discussion about police items, saying she had a conflict. The items were voted on separately and she returned for the other advance budget measures.