Clear Full Forecast

It's Back To The Well-City Hall For Ice Oval

By Ben Meisner

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 03:45 AM

The Prince George Ice Oval Society pitched the Standing Committee on Finance, Gordon Hogg Minister of Sport, Finance Minister Colin Hansen, Ministers Pat Bell and Shirley Bond and MLA John Rustad, MP Dick Harris, MP Jay Hill and came up with a blank when it came to getting some money from these people.
So where are they now?  Well back at the original well, the City of Prince George.
They want an Ice Oval Manager, to look after a facility that will not allow skating in the center of the oval as was the case some years ago. For those that want to play scrub hockey, too bad , go to the 23 community rinks, for those that used to use the facility for free skating , you would have to pay. This facility is for people who want to take part in speed skating or skate the long oval track.
Now you may remember how the Ice Oval group got about $400,000 dollars worth of gravel, (we never were given a figure) without the City Council approving it, and had the oval built. At the time, it was said,  everyone would be allowed to skate.
Now the group comes to Council and presents a budget, they didn't ask for money, but if every other request has been turned down, were will the money come from.
OPERATING BUDGET INFORMATION
Operating Revenue Budget
Item 
Amount
Donations
$1,000
Grants 
$15,000
Membership dues
$200
Admissions
$31,500
Merchandise sales
$200
Interest
$10
TOTAL
$47,910 
                    
                  
                     
 
Operating Expenditure Budget
 
Item                                                               Amount
Manager salary & benefits                                $30,500
Part time staff wages & benefits                        $25,000
Fuel                                                                 $3,000
Depreciation expense                                        $6,000
GST paid                                                            $800
Insurance                                                       $12,200
Society administration                                          $650
On-site office rent & utilities                               $2,930
On-site office equipment & supplies                    $2,900
First Aid and emergency supplies                        $1,000
Professional fees                                                  $300
Rental requirements                                             $400
Equipment repair & maintenance                         $4,500
Facility repair & maintenance                               $2,600
Utilities - Toilet rental                                             $350
Staff uniforms                                                     $1,500
Volunteer appreciation                                           $700
 
TOTAL                                                           $95,330
That equates to asking the city for $47,420 dollars, a year. Now using the figures from the group the numbers break down to 128 skaters a day using the facility, 11 skaters an hour. Would the city be getting its bang for the buck? Absolutely not.
But then consider this, there are 80 people in the PG Blizzard Speed skating group, you will notice from the financial statements that the total to be received from memberships is $200.00 dollars. Does that suggest strong support?
The Oval Society has been very successful in getting a lot of things done in the city with respect to the Ice Oval, at least one without formal approval. Are we getting our money’s worth and does it serve the greater good for all of the citizens? Certainly not. Administration is being asked to look at the file and report back to council.
 
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email Email | Print Print | Share on Facebook Facebook | Tweet! Twitter | Digg Digg | Del.icio.us Del.icio.us

Posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

Return to Home
NetBistro

Comments

Comment Posted by: Eagleone on July 29 2009 7:32 AM
The city needs to fund just the basics (water, sewer, police, fire, roads, garbage) with the property tax and anything beyond that needs to find another source of funding... maybe a cut of the HST or gas tax I don't know, maybe user fees... but the facts are it is extortion of the home owner to just fix the bill to them, because the home owner is the easiest to tax with little to no accountability by the bureaucracy.
Comment Posted by: Eagleone on July 29 2009 8:02 AM
I stumbled on a web site offering free cash grants from the Canadian government for almost anything... is it a scam? I don't know, but maybe the ice oval people could go there for their funding and leave the home owners on a fixed income alone?

http://canadakits.com/
Comment Posted by: MrPG on July 29 2009 9:42 AM
Assuming the site is legit, don't those 'home owners on a fixed income' provide the same tax dollars to the Canadian Government which in turn doles out grants?
Comment Posted by: gus on July 29 2009 9:47 AM
They only have a few kits remaining. Seems I am out of luck once more. Should have told me earlier eagleone.
Comment Posted by: gus on July 29 2009 10:01 AM
The "free" trial review costs $1.95. For that you have to provide a credit card number. So, without a credit card, one cannot do a thing on here.

It is a membership which provides the following.

Free Trial Information
Offer Details: You're qualified to receive the GrantsMoney Funding Kit Trial. Activate your trial Right Now before the offer expires immediately.

Enter your information and click the "Submit" button. The activation has been discounted to only $1.95.

You will be sent your instructions immediately on applying for government grant money. The limited trial has been extended to a full 24 hours for your convenience.

The entire first 30 days of access is only $57.61. In order to ensure you continue to receive access, your trial period will extend into our convenient monthly subscription service.

The unlimited access subscription service continues at the then-current membership rate automatically charged on or about the same date you accept the trial offer today for your convenience.

Should you decide that you no longer want to receive the GrantsMoney Funding Kit during this limited promotion, you may call 1.866.955.1671 within the 24 hour trial period and you will not be charged.

You may contact live operators at 1.866.955.1671 if you are dissatisfied for any reason and you will no longer be charged. Once again, congratulations on securing one of the last remaining GrantsMoney Funding Kit!

I am amazed. My IQ is above 85 and they still accepted me. :-)
Comment Posted by: gus on July 29 2009 10:04 AM
BTW, that is what I would call a psychopathic organization.
Comment Posted by: gus on July 29 2009 10:18 AM
Back to the oval. $30,500 for a manager who "manages" a low use, 5 months at the most facility if you include a couple of week at each end for start up and wind down. Wow!! Why do we not call him/her a caretaker and offer $3,000 per month for seasonal work? Fundraising, promotion, etc. could be done by a volunteer board.

Why can't we use the Otway Ski Trails as an example of a single use winter outdoor activity?

Here are the trail use season pass rates:
http://www.caledonianordic.com/rates
Baed on 200 member at $70 for junior rates, the total income for ice oval use would be $14,000.

Hey, we just covered the proposed salary for a caretaker.

I really think they need to be told to go back to the drawing board, sugggest they meet with the Caledonia Nordic Cross Country Ski Club and see what the have in common and how to run what appears to be a successful winter operation.
Comment Posted by: Dirtyrottenresearcher on July 29 2009 11:00 AM
As someone who used to take his family to the oval to go skating I have concerns with a proposal to limit the oval to speedskaters alone. At the same time, I would oppose allowing scrub hockey on the oval as my experience while skating there was that hockey always spilled over from the centre into the oval and was a dangerous problem both with recreational and speed skaters.

It seems to me that charging a fee for use from recreational skaters will be a non-starter, but it is completely unreasonable to maintain this facility only for the use of a very few elite speed skaters who are would recieve a substantial benefit from the taxpayers.
Comment Posted by: bowzone_mikey on July 29 2009 1:09 PM
the City dont need to supply anything ... the PGIOS is a private organization that is unwilling to share and play nice ... ie: public skating and hockey etc in the center of the oval ....

the PGIOS can do their own fund raising ...buyor long lease their own land ...build their own building and/or outdoor oval blah blah blah ....

then they can do and charge whatever they want ...but they wont get off their Lazy ass' to get out and raise money for their own site and they expect the City and ultimatly you and I to pay for it ... yet I will never get a chance to use it ....

Comment Posted by: manofpg on July 29 2009 1:30 PM
I HATE the oval, what a waste of space...they dont care about users anymore... Wonder why I dont use it ever!
Make it completely private, that way the city cant be blamed for the problems there!
Comment Posted by: Junco on July 29 2009 1:35 PM
I agree bowzone_mikey.

I wonder who is first in line for the Ice Oval Manager position? Pretty sweet job.
I'll bet someone has designs on that position.
Comment Posted by: caranmacil on July 29 2009 2:33 PM

Gus hit the nail on the head regarding the manager. Where do i go to apply for that job? sheesh! I also agree that membership dues are pretty damn low for a club that wants around 50 K in funding.
Comment Posted by: NMG on July 29 2009 5:39 PM
"That equates to asking the city for $47,420 dollars, a year"

Well given that the wages and benefits for their manager and staff members is budgeted to amount to $55,500, perhaps they should just convince some of their dedicated users to volunteer their time instead of paying for staff, and they'd have a chance to break even without any assistance or even turn a small profit.
Comment Posted by: diplomat on July 29 2009 8:05 PM
At the last city council session (when the Ice Oval Society made its presentation) I also heard them mention the future concept of a heated Four Seasons Ice Oval. According to my reckoning it would mean putting a roof over the whole oval and making it a year round facility.

In other words - another mega project, to be funded by the taxpayers, of course.

So this asking for funding may only be the tip of the proverbial iceberg, with a request for 50 or 60 million, ala MegaPAC coming sooner than the ordinary taxpayer can imagine.

It looks as if it is already being contemplated.





Comment Posted by: hammmy on July 29 2009 8:06 PM
51 million for an Arts Centre! Don't Forget
Comment Posted by: gus on July 29 2009 8:23 PM
The Arts Centre at that price will have an ice skating oval around it. The heat extracted from the cooling of the ice will heat the Arts Centre during the winter.