Thunder Bay event centre: taxpayers group present new figures

Members of the group, Concerned Taxpayers of Thunder Bay, hosted a media event Monday afternoon to share what they believe is the true cost of building the city's proposed event centre.

By their calculations, the city will have to pay $80-million of the $114-million price tag. That's nearly double what administration has claimed.

"We eliminated the federal portion because that's not new money," said Ray Smith, the group's chair.

He added, "The only thing the federal government might give us is the 1.9 million to move the bus terminal."

They also feel corporate naming rights for the new facility will be worth about a tenth of the city's 10-million dollar estimate, said Smith.

Thunder Bay's proposed event centre will be the focus of Monday evening's city council meeting.