I'll share this story again because some city hall critics are repeating their inflated event centre cost estimates.
The city council-approved budget is still $200 million. On top of that is approximately $20 million for the downtown land acquisition/demolition and almost $5 million for the since-cancelled Kingsway Entertainment District. As such, the total approved project cost Sudbury.com has been using is $225 million. Anything expense beyond this, or any significant deviation in project scope, would have to be approved with a fresh vote of city council.
A clear example of how these cost estimates have been inflated by critics is in past city council member Robert Kirwan tacking on an additional $50 million to account for U.S. tariffs. Nobody knows what the actual impact of tariffs will be, if they remain in place long enough to affect the project's budget, but this estimate assumes that 100 per cent of the project's $200-million cost consists of materials imported from the United States and subject to Canadian retaliatory tariffs of 25 per cent. This is not the case.
As with anything, this project could very well exceed its budget. The Kingsway Entertainment District more than doubled in price. However, the numbers critics are sharing do not make sense and have been roundly dismissed by city staff.
I'll share this story again because some city hall critics are repeating their inflated event centre cost estimates.
The city council-approved budget is still $200 million.
On top of that is approximately $20 million for the downtown land acquisition/demolition and almost $5 million for the since-cancelled Kingsway Entertainment District.
As such, the total approved project cost Sudbury.com has been using is $225 million.
Anything expense beyond this, or any significant deviation in project scope, would have to be approved with a fresh vote of city council.
A clear example of how these cost estimates have been inflated by critics is in past city council member Robert Kirwan tacking on an additional $50 million to account for U.S. tariffs. Nobody knows what the actual impact of tariffs will be, if they remain in place long enough to affect the project's budget, but this estimate assumes that 100 per cent of the project's $200-million cost consists of materials imported from the United States and subject to Canadian retaliatory tariffs of 25 per cent. This is not the case.
As with anything, this project could very well exceed its budget. The Kingsway Entertainment District more than doubled in price. However, the numbers critics are sharing do not make sense and have been roundly dismissed by city staff.