Coun. Alex Reed delivered the news at Monday night council that the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC) board, on which he is the council representative, is preparing for a $1.2 M shortfall this year. As per the society's agreement with the town – as SLSFSC is jointly owned by the Town of Cochrane and Rocky View County – they will be coming to council to cover the operating deficit, later this fall. According to Hank Biesbroek, the significant jump from $600,000, then $800,000 to the $1.2 M shortfall for the fiscal year-end of July 31, 2018 is largely due to mandatory changes made to stat holiday pay – whereby eligible employees get mandatory pay regardless if they work on those holidays – and minimum wage hikes, which reach their maximum of $15 per hour next month. "The ripple effect is huge," explained Biesbroek, emphasizing that the effect translates to all wages driving up, not just minimum earners, which is significant for a facility that employs some 200-plus part and full-time employees. "Are we happy? No, not at all. But on a go-forward basis, we anticipate that number to drop by about 40 per cent after year three in our three-year budget," he explained. Another contributor is that membership sales are down. The hype of the new pool/curling centre addition last summer and the promo to sell memberships at the old rates drew big sales numbers, which have since slid. According to facility general manager Robin Mitchell, this is anticipated to rebound in the coming months. "Membership numbers were strong and ahead of budget right up until July. Last year, we had a lot of people sign up in the month of July prior to the aquatic centre opening," said Mitchell. "One year later, many of those individuals didn’t renew in July – primarily due to them being on holidays – and as a result the numbers dropped off. We anticipate that many of those members will come back in the early fall." Those concerned about renewing their memberships before a fall price hike can breath a sigh of relief, as Mitchell confirmed that patrons won't see a fee increase until "later in 2019." Other contributors to the shortfall include unforeseen complications in pool maintenance, resulting in around $100,000 for pool chemicals and the delayed opening of the pool by several weeks. The board has also given the green light to conduct an operational audit – to ensure "the right number of employees are in the right places, doing the right things". Biesbroek said that it's not to be dismissed that the SLSFSC board members are not recreational facility experts, rather they are volunteers with backgrounds in business. An operational audit contractor will be selected once the executive board has vetted quotes and will take place later this fall – anticipated to span two to three months. Reed also advised council that the vendor the board had been working with to occupy the restaurant/lounge space above the curling facility has fallen through. At last month's council session, council approved $125,000 to go toward needed renovations (namely plumbing and piping) to make the space usable for the potential restaurateur. The funds were redirected from the facilities life-cycling reserve. Mitchell confirmed that he has toured 32 vendors through the space – each of them unwilling to fork out the dough for leaseholder improvements such as plumbing and piping. "If we get a tenant tomorrow, we'll be drilling holes tomorrow," laughed Biesbroek, confirming that renovations will be put on hold for the time being, until a tenant is secured. Reed said the society wants to try and leverage the funds to get matching grant dollars in the meantime. The cost to leave the potential lounge/restaurant space vacant is around $20,000/year. Potential revenues for the society cannot be estimated until an agreement is in place. Mitchell said they will continue to market for a tenant for that space. The board has no new leasable spaces and has recently renewed three leases. The parking lot located at the rear facility entrance still needs to be paved. This cost is anticipated at between $240,000 and $270,000 and Reed said the society will be approaching the town and county for additional funds to get this done. Other Facilities Mayor Bill Given of Grande Prairie said its multi-use recreational facility, Eastlink Centre, requires an annual subisdy of $4 million per year. Given said it takes time to work out the kinks of transitioning from a small to much larger facility. Their centre is much larger than Cochrane's and came with a price tag of $110 million. "Three to four years after opening, we found the subsidy was higher than expected," he said, adding that the benefit to their community has been significant. The opening of Elevation Place in Canmore is noted as a "success story" by the town - given that before opening the facility, the annual cost to the tax base was $1.75 million for only the Canmore Rec Centre. Now with Elevation Place, the amount is $1.8 million per year. Cochrane's former pool - Bill Hill Leisure Pool - ran an annual deficit of $625,000.
