STC stays on books as wind-up needs more time

Most of its assets have SASKATOON been sold to the highest bidders, but the Saskatchewan Transportation Company will remain on the provincial government’s books for at least another year.

A casualty of the unpopular 201718 budget, the Crown corporation was expected to officially vanish on March 31, but the government has since amended the order needed to dissolve it.

STC is now scheduled to be wound up on March 31, 2019, almost two years after its buses clocked their final kilometres and pulled into depots across the province for the final time.

An interview with Crown Investments Corp. Minister Joe Hargrave was declined, but government spokeswoman Trelle Kolojay acknowledged the need for more time in an emailed statement.

“STC functioned under a fiscal year-end of March 31 and will require another fiscal period to complete all transactions and finalize financial reporting responsibilities,” the statement said.

The main reason for the delay is the sale of STC’s Regina maintenance facility. According to Kolojay, another fiscal year was necessary to allow time for negotiations, which are underway, and additional fiscal reporting.

“While this may not take the full year to complete, as it falls within the new fiscal period, the formal dissolution date will be March 31, 2019,” Kolojay said in the statement.

The government’s decision to shut down the 71-year-old bus company was met with a wall of criticism; it was arguably the most controversial decision in a budget full of controversial decisions.

Some have questioned the social implications of the decision, while others have argued that winding up the corporation will cost far more than the $85 million over five years the government has said it will save.

Since announcing the decision, the government has sold most of the bus company’s assets — including its fleet of 45 buses and 13 trailers — to a liquidator. Those items were auctioned off in February.

The government also sold the STC terminal in Regina to the City of Regina for $16.25 million and the Saskatoon depot — which was valued at $4.3 million — to Meridian Development Corp. for an undisclosed price.

Last month, the City of Saskatoon agreed to pay $4.88 million for a property in the city’s Central Industrial area, just west of City Park, that includes a former STC maintenance facility. That deal closed on March 29.

The government is refusing to release individual agreements with some purchasers of STC’s assets.

Kolojay said the province expects the process will bring in “up to” $30 million, slightly higher than earlier estimates.