REGINA - Regina Exhibition Association Ltd. is making its 2025 budget request at Executive Committee this week and it promises to be a steep one.
According to the agenda documents posted for Wednesday’s committee meeting at City Hall, REAL will be requesting $12.7 million to council, in advance of the budget deliberations set to begin in mid-March.
According to their funding request the organization is requesting $4,211,882 in operational funding, or roughly $2.2 million more than what was their annual operating grant for 2024.
REAL are also requesting $4,788,118 in potential working capital funding, up from $4 million in 2024. $2,715,224 in term debt funding is being requested, up from $2,648 million in 2024, and there is $1 million in capital funding being requested which is the same as last year.
The $1 million capital funding would be allocated between $300,000 each going to Brandt Centre and Queensbury Centre, $335,000 going to IT software upgrades and hardware refresh, $50,000 to the Ag Ex Pavilion building and $15,000 in contingency.
The overall request of $12.7 million for 2025 is lower than the $17.7 million in total funding granted in 2024. But a big difference in 2024 was that REAL was approved for a one-time-only grant of $8.035 million to repay the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy to the Canada Revenue Agency following an audit.
As for 2025, REAL is forecasting a $4.2 million loss, which they state reflects the absence of a major concert or event and a “realistic approach” to budgeting for its three signature events: Frost, Canada’s Farm Show and Queen City Ex..
The REAL request is scheduled to be presented to Executive Committee with the meeting set to begin at 9 a.m. at City Hall on Wednesday. A delegation from REAL consisting of acting president Roberta Engel, chair Jaime Boldt and REAL Audit and Finance Committee Chair Christine Short is currently scheduled to be in attendance to make their 2025 budget submission presentation.
Executive Committee will make a decision on Administration's recommendation to refer the 2025 Budget and related requests to the city council meeting on March 17. That meeting will mark the first day of the extensive budget deliberations which are expected to go on throughout the week.
