Olds town council directed the Olds Rapids Swim Club to approach local service clubs for funds before appearing at council again at the April 26 meeting.
Representatives from the club appeared before council last week.
Todd Ormann, president of the club, told councillors that because of a decline in membership, the club is running a deficit of $7,951.91 for the 2010-11 swimming season.
Ormann said the club has cut expenses as much as it can, but with declining revenue from bingo and other fundraising activities, the club is struggling. Club membership is down to 33 swimmers, while he estimated that it takes about 40 swimmers to make the club viable.
Ormann said the club wants to build relationships with other clubs throughout Central Alberta, perhaps building a Central Alberta swim association in which potential coaching costs could be shared amongst clubs. Ormann said because of the financial situation of the club, he requested a reduction in the lane rental fee the club pays at the pool.
Currently, the club pays $10 per hour per lane, using three lanes three days per week and five lanes the other two days of the week. The club rents the pool for 1.5 hours per day.
“When we approached the town on this, we were looking for a fee reduction,” Ormann told councillors.
Asked by Coun. Wade Bearchell what other communities were looked at, Ormann said the club compared its operations to Stettler, Three Hills and Sylvan Lake, noting that the former two clubs are much smaller than the Rapids. The Rapids pay a higher rental rate for the pool than all three of those clubs, Ormann said.
“If you could try to look at service club funds … I think that (could be an avenue),” Bearchell said.
“It's a huge amount of money out of our donations budget,” Coun. Harvey Walsh said, suggesting that the club should go to service clubs first and then come back to council if necessary.
Following the meeting, Ormann said while he was hoping for a positive result, he understands council's position. He said the club will follow through on council's suggestion.
“I'm hoping that I got across that message, though, that the swim club is good for the pool as much as it is good for the swim club. It does promote swimming in the community,” he said.
While the club can carry a deficit this year due to revenue received from a casino fundraiser in 2010, the next casino isn't until 2012.
“We really need this year to realign our books to make sure we can support it,” he said, adding that the issue revolves around revenue generation.
The club has reduced costs in several ways, including using less lanes at the pool, cutting other expenses where possible and raising fees for swimmers.
“We're not really in a position to look for more from parents, that will just drive down the numbers. We've now got to find that support to further decrease costs, look at revenue and continue to track,” he said.
Ormann said he hopes that once the club has approached service clubs in the near future, when it goes back to council, he hopes for a more favourable result.
The town recovers about 35 to 40 per cent of the operating costs of the pool through rental rates. Adult rates are full cost recovery while youth rates are subsidized. A review of rates and fees at the pool will be taking place later this year, said Barbara Hill, the town's director of community services.
