SASKATOON, SK: The city of Saskatoon spent over $90,000 on decorative mesh balls and lightbulbs to spruce up a downtown back alley, according to documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“Shining fancy lights on back-alley dumpsters is a garbage way of using taxpayer dollars” said Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director for the CTF. “The city of Saskatoon needs to give its head a shake after this project.”

The project was unveiled in December of 2022 and occupies an alley between 2^nd and 3^rd Avenues South.

The city said: “This one-of-a-kind lighting project invites residents and tourists to visit spaces less travelled and discover a side of the city they might have never seen before.”

The project was paid for by a combination of funds from the city, the downtown business improvement district, and some downtown businesses. According to the provided documents, the total cost of the project was $122,174. The city paid for $91,485 while the businesses and the improvement district provided $30,689.

The $90,000 of taxpayer dollars that the city paid towards the project is equivalent to the city property taxes of 37 average homes.

Meanwhile, Saskatoon has huge bills coming due. The city of Saskatoon recently spent over $17 million dollars for land downtown near the proposed arena site. Projected costs for the city’s new library have increased to $79 million. City council recently voted to go into debt to cover extra costs from the latest snow dump.

“The city shouldn’t be using taxpayer dollars to get people to spend more time in back alleys,” said Haubrich. “The city of Saskatoon needs to commit to respecting taxpayer dollars and not wasting it on frivolous art projects.”