The fate of the downtown arena is set to be determined Wednesday as the final budget report for the project goes before councillors.
The deal is in danger of being derailed as millions in funding is still unaccounted for.
Last month, councillors voted to use Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding as leverage to borrow $45 million to cover the missing $100 million, with the hope that the province would cover off the remaining $55 million.
Since that time, the province has restated it will not be contributing dollars towards the downtown arena.
The report being presented to councillors Wednesday recommends approving the final budget for the arena project without a funding guarantee from the province.
“The funds would not be required until 2015 or 2016. This allows for time to identify appropriate provincial funding,” the report reads.
But many councillors have expressed concerns about moving forward without all funding in place.
“It will be sad to see this deal fall apart,” Sohi told CTV News last week. “But I really don’t know how we can put any more money into it.”
There have been some concerns that walking away from the project now would be costing the city millions.
Coun. Kerry Diotte says that seems like a better alternative.
“It might be better to walk away from a loss of $30 or 40 million, than be into an arena for $480 million and then suddenly you’re looking for more, more and more money,” Diotte told CTV News on Monday.
CTV News will be live-blogging the latest downtown arena update beginning at 9:30 a.m. Follow along by tweeting @ctvedmonton or using the hashtag #yegarena.
