Municipal officials are investigating cost-saving measures for the operation of the arena.
During the governance meeting on Aug. 12, council heavily debated what the town should do to get the arena out of deficit.
For the year of 2013, operating expenses for the arena are projected to be $391,003 while revenue is budgeted at $277,070. The revenue projection of the arena is assisted by the allocation of $150,000 from recreation funding created in partnership from the county and the town.
The community services department of the town is currently operating with six permanent full-time employees at the arena. There are seven employees budgeted for, so a savings to the arena specifically is $10,000 as a result of only having six employees.
Dallas Rosevear, president of the Sundre Minor Hockey Association, was present on behalf of the association to join in on the debate.
During the debate, Mayor Annette Clews suggested giving the schools in town keys for the arena, if the town decides to change the hours. This was so they can use the arena during class times and lock it up afterwards. She said she knows of other communities that do so.
Ron Baker, the town's director of operational services, said the town did do this a number of years ago, but discontinued because of safety and liability reasons.
Coun. Paul Isaac questioned if students were under the schools' liability and Jacci Hager, the town's manager of community services, said they are, but that it's still the town's liability when the students are in the town's facility.
Clews questioned if there was a society that would be willing to run the arena off of an operating grant which the municipality would provide. Hager said other communities run their arenas like this, but the municipality generally ends up taking over because the society runs out of grant money.
Isaac said regardless, the town needs to explore avenues so that the arena is not a deficit to the town.
Rosevear claimed he could save the town up to $200,000. He said the town would save close to that amount of money if the arena was independent from the municipality's facilities.
He said if the town tendered out the arena, it would relieve the town from operating it. He said he has seen the arena budget as a deficit for the last 20 years.
The arena “soaks up” all of the town's money, leaving no money for other sports, he said.
Isaac suggested changing the hours of the arena to fluctuate the time of the demand. Clews and Coun. Tony Jordan said that council has requested before for administration to bring forward ideas for efficiency and cost-saving measures for the arena and would still like to see that happen.
Clews suggested administration have the information available for the Sept. 9 governance meeting. Hager said it would be a tight timeline because administration staff would need to gather community feedback.
Clews then suggested that administration have the information available for the October governance meeting. Hager said she would bring as much information as possible to the Sept. 9 meeting and then go from there.
Coun. Pat Toone said she has camped in Westward Ho for years and a group of campers formed a society and now runs the campground because it was a deficit to Mountain View County. She said the society runs it without losing money. She agreed with Isaac on changing the hours of the arena.
Isaac also suggested for Doug Wright, the town's interim chief administrative officer, to meet with Rosevear and further discuss cost-saving measures for the arena.
In a recent survey conducted for the town's Master Recreation Plan, of both town residents and county residents, it was found that approximately 42 per cent of the 483 respondents have used the arena in the past year.
A survey was also conducted of the town's schools' students and it was found that approximately 83 per cent of the 380 respondents have used the arena in the past year.
Earlier this year, council approved increasing arena user fees by $5 per hour, which will be effective in January 2014. This will help to alleviate the deficit, but not to the extent that is needed.
Administration officials are in discussions with all of the arena's user groups, including the schools, to provide the best ice time to each group. This includes drop-in times, public skating and sticks and pucks.
Options which administration is exploring include closing the arena during the weekdays and operating it from 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. from Monday to Friday, rather than 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Another option would be to maintain the existing weekday operating hours and work to recruit daytime adult teams.
Another option would be to adjust the weekday operating hours to 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. and recruit daytime adult teams.
The other option is to negotiate with a non-profit society to operate the arena.
Current cost-saving measures in place include the replacement of the Olympia planned for 2016, which will save on vehicle and equipment repair and maintenance.
Also, there are potential arena upgrades and renovations planned for 2015, which will save on building repair and maintenance and utility costs.
“Increasing revenue through rentals of the facility, both the ice surface and the clubroom at full rental price, will assist in closing the gap between revenues and expenses,” said Hager, in a report to governance.
“Increased revenues may be found through additional advertising spaces at the arena, increased ice usage during the winter season, increased dry surface usage during the summer season and increased usage of the clubroom.”
