Saskatoon City Council has approved a funding strategy that will aim to pay for the proposed Downtown Event and Entertainment District.

The strategy utilizes various funding sources, including public and private contributions, grants, and user fees, and it avoids increasing property taxes.

The plan will help the city raise between $354 million and $424 million in the next 33 years, which is just the City’s portion of funding being put towards the $1.22 billion project.

Yet again at Wednesday’s council meeting, the approved business partner, OVG360, did not make an appearance as planned. This happened once before at a meeting earlier this month.

OVG360 has already promised to pay $20 million up front toward building the DEED, which includes a new arena and a renovated TCU Place convention centre.