MAPLETON – Township council has agreed to cover a shortfall in funding incurred by the Alma Community Centre operations committee during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alma Optimist Club treasurer Bruce Whale explained in a June 13 presentation to council that the committee has been operating the facility on behalf of the township since it opened.
The $1.56 million building in Wallace Cumming Park was built in 2010, with federal and provincial governments each providing one third of the funding and the township and the Alma Optimist Club providing the remaining third.
The township maintains ownership of the hall and property, with the committee – composed of members the Alma Optimist Club – overseeing its day-to-day operation.
That includes handling bookings, cleaning, heat and electrical bills, routine maintenance, interior furnishings and rules and budgets for the hall.
Figures provided by the committee showed revenue dropped drastically from 2020 to 2022 as facilities were closed in response to the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, it’s hard to operate when all the public buildings in the community were closed because of COVID …” explained Whale.
“There were expenses that we had no source of revenue (to cover) other than pulling that out of the reserves that we had in the Optimist Club itself.”
The operations committee finished 2019 with net income of $10,577. However net income for in 2020 was only $4,197, dropping to $2,492 in 2021 and $439 in 2022.
With the easing of pandemic restrictions finances began to rebound in 2023, with net income of $4,271 to the end of May.
The economic hit left the committee owing $25,869 for utilities covered by the township during the lockdown period. The committee resumed covering utilities as of July 2022.
“The financial statements are pretty straightforward,” observed councillor Michael Martin. “Your club was affected just like everyone through the pandemic.
“I guess what we are also here to talk about is the outstanding utilities that the township has fronted.”
Martin asked if the group had a proposal concerning the shortfall.
“We don’t really have a proposal,” replied Whale. “Our club is willing to do what we can do. Our intention is to pay them all off.
“It may take a little while because we have issues that we’ve had to take care of in the meantime. But we did agree to operate the hall.”
Whale asked if any of the money provided by the provincial and federal governments for maintaining and operating public facilities during the pandemic was still available.
“We’d certainly appreciate any help that we could get from the municipality to help us kind of get out of that hole and start over again,” he stated.
“Inflationary pressures are probably going to keep driving up your costs on the hall anyway … with gas and hydro and stuff,” noted Martin.
He pointed out the hall’s net income in a good year was less than half the $26,000 shortfall.
“That’s awkward for a club to be staring down at two-and-a-half good years’ deficit to kind of claw your back way back to even,” he stated.
The agreement between the committee and the township has evolved since it began, with the township taking over responsibility for plowing snow when the committee struggled to find an affordable private contractor.
Mayor Gregg Davidson suggested the agreement could be further reworked to take pressure off the club.
A motion to receive the presentation as information was approved after being amended to include provisions to cover the $28,869 owed to the township with funds from the township’s three-year budget surplus.
The motion also called for a review of the hall operation agreement between the club and the township.
“We are still really proud to be able to operate that hall … We’re happy that we can provide the people in the community with a first-class venue for meetings and functions,” said Whale.
