Burns Lake council will discuss how much the village will contribute toward its recreation department starting next year during a recreation master plan meeting, scheduled for Feb. 27, 2017.
The village’s recreation department has been dealing with a significant increase in its budget since the Lakeside Multiplex opened in 2014.
During a budget meeting last month, councillor Michael Riis-Christianson said he has concerns about the amount of money that the village spends on recreation and urged council to take immediate action to reduce the department’s budget.
“I can appreciate that we’re going to be doing a master plan and setting up subsidization levels for 2018, but I don’t believe that we can do business as usual this year,” said Riis-Christianson. “Some areas of recreation are just not sustainable.”
Burns Lake’s director of recreation Dooseon Jung said one of the most important projects for 2017 will be to research ways to increase recreation revenues. She said finding ways to attract more recreation users is one potential option.
Memberships sold for the Lakeside Multiplex declined last year - from 812 sold in 2015 to 791 sold in 2016. Squash court use has also been declining. The recreation department has been finding other ways to make use of the squash court such as offering wallyball and indoor soccer, as well as renting the space for private events.
The recreation department’s current plans for 2017 include refurbishing the squash court’s floor, purchasing gym equipment - treadmills and elliptical -, repairing the zamboni and mechanical room’s roof, replacing the arena’s clock and refurbishing benches in the curling rink’s spectator’s room.
Councillor Kelly Holliday pointed out during the meeting that the gym equipment being replaced is not broken. To that, Jung said the equipment is getting old and she doubts it will make it until the end of the year. The cost to replacing treadmills and elliptical is $23,000.
Riis-Christianson also questioned why the recreation department has hired additional staff to clean the Lakeside Multiplex, as opposed to using existing staff. Jung said the department used to ask existing staff to clean the facility, but that some areas were not being properly cleaned on busy days and customers started complaining. The budgeted cost for janitorial wages and cleaning supplies is $6900.
“We will work with council to find the best approach for our recreation master plan,” said Jung.
Last year’s subsidy rate (the percentage of the total cost that is covered by the municipality) for the Lakeside Multiplex was 40 per cent, while the subsidy rate for the ice arena was 38 per cent. In Houston, a municipality of similar size, the subsidy rate toward their ice arena is 40 per cent, while the municipality’s contribution toward their pool and gym is 70 per cent.