The Yukon Party is criticizing the cost of the government’s new website, which is partially launched alongside the territory’s new logo.

Opposition MLA Scott Kent called the site a “vanity project,” and accused the government of spending more than double the original budget on its construction.

“I think they certainly have underestimated the costs here, and we can’t get staff figures out of the premier,” Kent told the Star this morning. “Obviously, it’s poor planning.”

In a news release announcing the website’s launch in February 2018, the government estimated an initial $250,000 would be spent in 2017-18 on planning and design, while $33,000 would be spent on a content migration strategy.

Premier Sandy Silver told the house last Tuesday that $550,000 has been spent on the website’s development thus far. The transition from the old website is slated for completion by the end of 2020.

In a breakdown of spending, Silver said the initial $250,000 was spent in 2017-18, with an additional $200,000 spent in 2018-19 and $100,000 spent so far this year.

Kent questioned the increase in content migration costs, which was originally budgeted at $33,000.

The Information Resources Management Committee, however, made a request for $288,000 for content migration, as evidenced by an internal memo provided by the Yukon Party.

“Clearly … they’ve significantly underestimated that piece,” Kent said.

He expressed frustration that the government is not outlining the cost of staffing the website transition.

Silver told the house last week that staffing numbers have been written into the budget but were not included in the $550,000 spent so far.

The old website is still in operation while content is being moved over, at an estimated cost of $100,000 this year.

Approximately 11,000 site pages are being moved into the new webspace, a task Silver said is 70 per cent complete.

Silver said nearly 3,000 feedback forms from Yukoners have been completed since the site’s launch in 2018.

Once the new website is complete and the old space killed, Silver said maintenance on the new site will cost $75,000 annually. This is approximately half the cost of the previous platform. He called the new website a “cost-savings” measure.

He defended the spending as necessary to the modernization of government services.

“The new website has been designed to meet today’s standards for privacy, security, accessibility and also compatibility on other mobile devices as well,” Silver said.

“We believe that providing the modern website is fundamental to citizens being the centre of an open and transparent government.”

Both Kent and NDP MLA Liz Hanson have criticized the new website’s functionality.

In the house last week, Hanson said the site “fails basic usability tests” and hinders Yukoners’ access to information.

Kent told the Star this morning that he finds the website, particularly as it is in the transitional stage, to be challenging.

He explained that while manoeuvring the new site, certain links will bounce you back to the old webspace, making the platform confusing.

“That’s not (common practice) in my experience; normally, you develop a new website and then you implement the new website once it’s ready,” Kent said.

“This one seems extremely haphazard.”