Decorative alley lights cost Saskatoon taxpayers nearly $100K
CTV
A decorative display in a Saskatoon back alley cost taxpayers nearly $100,000.
A decorative display in a Saskatoon back alley cost taxpayers nearly $100,000.
Leslie Anderson, the city's director of planning and development said the total cost of the 21st Street back alley lights project shared by the city added up to $99,985.77.
"The lighting is also supported financially -- for the installation and ongoing electrical costs -- by entrepreneurs who work hard every day keeping downtown an attractive and viable business area," Anderson said in a statement to CTV News. "They create jobs and opportunities which keep the tax base healthy to provide the services we all depend upon. The city will always support those goals."
Documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayer Federation and shared with CTV News shows how bills associated with the light display in the alley that runs from O’Shea’s Pub on 2nd Avenue South to the Hotel Senator on 3rd Avenue South.
Bluetooth lights were invoiced at nearly $3,500. The orbs that encased the bulbs cost more than $19,000 and nearly $54,000 was billed by a local electrical company to hook up and install the decorations.
"That's a lot of money to begin with for any type of public art project," said Gage Haubrich, prairie director with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "But when you see that it's basically going to light up dumpsters in a back alley, it kind of makes you think what the city was thinking on this project."
The news release announcing the art installation in December, 2022, the "programmable fiberglass mesh light ‘orbs’" were meant to illuminate "these spaces like never before."
