At least two of the four tenants of the Town of Sundre's community centre have expressed concerns with an average $2,770 maintenance fee increase to the building for the year of 2014.
Dorothy Thengs, the president of the Sundre Playschool Society, and the vice-president of the Sundre Daycare Society, says both societies are operating in a budget deficit and cannot afford the increase.
For the year of 2014, it is estimated that the playschool will be in a deficit of $12,926.68. The daycare is estimated to be in a deficit of $18,764.43.
“A 145 per cent increase to our budget for the 2014 year is hard to adjust without increasing our fees to families,” said Thengs in a letter to council dated Oct. 31.
“It is hard to go back to the families and ask for more when they registered in June with understanding the fees were set.”
She has concerns that the fee increase will cause the organizations to lose customers, as both societies have competition.
“We need to remind you that we are a non-profit volunteer organization and have limited resources to come up with an additional $2,770 with limited notice,” she said.
The financial year for both the playschool and the daycare starts March 1 and ends Feb. 28, and the tenants were informed of the increase at the beginning of October.
The other two tenants in the building are Greenwood Neighbourhood Place and the Sundre Municipal Library.
“Our organization (playschool) is already fundraising $15,000 per year. This is done through the community and volunteers which believe our organization adds value to our youth and community.”
The fee to the tenants of the community centre is taken from the direct costs associated with the maintenance of the building and administration costs for running the facility, she said. It is divided out by the square footage used by each program.
The increase to the playschool society starting Jan. 1, 2014, is $2,773.80 per year, equal to $231.15 per month. The increase to the daycare society is $2,810.52 per year, equal to $234.21 per month.
“Then on top of our maintenance fee, we pay the split cost of utilities also based on our square footage,” she said.
The playschool society plans to make up for the loss by increasing fundraising efforts.
“We're going to increase our fundraising and do an extra bottle drive and stuff like that,” she said, noting that the society is planning a new annual “princess ball” event for May.
The society also plans to adjust fees in June of 2014, which would be the first time in five years.
She presented to council during the Nov. 18 council meeting, on behalf of both the playschool and daycare societies.
She went through both societies' financial situations with councillors to make them aware. Mayor Terry Leslie admitted that he had “no idea” the playschool was running in a deficit.
“We're trying to show that we can't take that much of an increase each year, of a dramatic increase,” she said, in a personal interview.
“The playschool always runs in a deficit but this is dramatic this year,” she said. “We (the daycare society) have such a large deficit this year due to a cut in funding from the Alberta government and we were there (at the council meeting) asking for help or a reduction to the large increase for the 2014 year.”
Keeping costs low to enrol a child in playschool has always been a priority for the society, she said.
“We try to keep our costs as low as possible for the families.”
A report to council from Jacci Hager, the town's manager of community services states: “This year council recommended that administration decrease the amount of recreation funding allocated towards the SCC (Sundre Community Centre) from 25 per cent to 15 per cent. Administration therefore has proposed to add the maintenance and administrative fee into all SCC tenants as per their contracts. This is an increase of approximately $2,600 per year per tenant, which works out to approximately $217 per month per tenant.”
