Town council is set to increase user rates at the Penhold Regional Multiplex as a way to recover the high cost of maintaining the facility.
And the new costs for users, both local and from out of town, will be substantially higher than what is now available in either Red Deer or Innisfail.
"Yes, this will be substantially higher than what is seen in Red Deer and Innisfail," said Derek Crichton, facilities manager at the multiplex.
He admitted there could be some public backlash for the new rates but added they are being introduced not as a money-making venture but for cost recovery purposes.
"People have to understand that these facilities don't run on air. There is not a single recreation facility out there that is making money," said Crichton. "We want to be closer to cost recovery so residents don't have to foot the bill."
As an example of how difficult it is to recover costs for the multi-million dollar facility, Crichton said in order for the multiplex to bring in annual revenues of $500,000 at $82 an hour a total of 6,077 hours of usage is required.
"Over the course of 365 days in the year you would need 19 hours a day of bookings," he said. "That means for me that we need to raise our rates."
On Feb. 13 Crichton presented a report to town council that outlined new hourly user rates for the main ice surface, gymnasium, dryland (arena surface), meeting room, and spring and summer hockey usage.
Council tabled the report until later this month. Administration was directed to take a second look at the cancellation policy and to see if a discount formula for the main ice surface can be fine-tuned for local league teams.
However, council did get a look at the proposed new rates. In most cases prices will be hiked an average of about 10 per cent. The hourly cost for a local minor hockey team (youth) using the main ice surface, for example, will go from $109 to $149. The hourly rate for out-of-town adult local groups in non-prime time will increase to $149 from $139. For Adult/Development camps in prime time the cost will jump to $189 from $169. And tournament rates for minor and local teams (youth) will increase to $149 from $129. Adult non-regional tournament hourly rates are set to rise to $169 an hour, from current rates of between $129 and $149.
"We had a lot of discussion around the rates. It was a pretty good discussion," said Mayor Dennis Cooper. "They (rates) are not a lot higher. What it works out to for two hockey teams playing on the ice is less than a dollar a player.
"In Central Alberta some towns heavily subsidize their ice. Red Deer rents out its ice for $80 an hour in some cases. It is just too low," added Cooper. "What it does is makes everybody subsidize their ice. I've talked to our citizens and said we want a fair price for the ice but we don't feel we should have to give it away."
