The City of Swift Current will be recouping some money and land shares putting an end to a long-standing debt owed by a pair of companies.

Back in 2008 the City alongside Paradise Plains and Megas 6 entered into an agreement to extend Battleford Trail and the services in that area.

"This benefited all parties by providing services to the adjacent properties and the needed through road [to conjoin with Central Avenue]," Swift Current CAO Tim Marcus said.

Some of the funding was provided for the project interest-free from the provincial government, which the City has since repaid. However, the two companies owe the City $5.62 million from the agreement.

At Monday night's city council meeting a new agreement was brought forward by City administration that was approved unanimously by city council.

The City will receive $500,000, an additional $500,000 from the first sale proceeds Megas 6 is entitled to, about a 40 per cent stake in a large piece of property, and the sale and marketing rights for said land.

"Administration believes this is favourable to the City as it provides some immediate relief to the outstanding debt and allows the City to move forward in marketing the land with the potential for all parties to benefit from future land sales," Marcus stated.

The majority of the 57 acres the City now owns shares in, is zoned as highway commercial, with the remaining bit multi-family.

"People never want to show their cards but there has been some people wondering about some of that property," Swift Current Mayor Al Bridal remarked.

According to the City, the 40 per cent stake in the land is worth almost $6 million if it's sold at the current market value of $250,000 per acre.

"We would eliminate the outstanding debt and collect approximately $1.3 million over-and-above what's outstanding [that's including the $1 million payment from the two companies]," Marcus said.

Swift Current City Councillor Leanne Tuntland-Wiebe applauded the work put in by the City's admin team, Mayor Bridal, and the City's lawyer to find a solution to an outstanding debt she first learned about on the campaign trail in 2020.

"A debt of over $5 million from these two groups was very disconcerning to me as a taxpayer and as a resident running for council," she said. "I don't know what the previous mayors and council tried to do about this situation since 2013 but nothing was resolved."