The $1 million budgeted for a synthetic field at Blackburn Park may get the project started, but additional funding may be needed to see to its completion.
At the Jan. 8 council meeting, chief financial officer Chelsea Van de Cappelle provided information related to decisions made during December budget deliberations. It included clarification on using Parks Development Cost Charges for fencing/lighting for the Blackburn Park Synthetic Field project included in the 2024 budget.
Van de Cappelle said she’d confirmed with the province that Parks DCCs could not be used for this project. Similar to Parks DCCs, Van de Cappelle said council also discussed using money from the Parks Development Reserve Fund. She explained this funding can only be used for acquisition of park land and parks equipment, “and is therefore not available for to use towards this project.”
As a result, Van de Cappelle explained $200,000 was removed from the project budget, with some funds left in “because we wanted to include the electrical base work for lighting but not the actual lighting system.”
In response to a request from the Salmon Arm Lawn Bowling Club, council also supported including $39,100 ($29,600 and a contributed donation of $9,500) in the budget for the purchase of new equipment for maintenance of the club’s greens, to be funded from the Recreation Amenities Reserve.
The club’s request was for the city to take over ownership of all existing equipment and to assume responsibility for maintenance and repair of the equipment.
“Council did not support ongoing maintenance…,” said Van de Cappelle of the budget process, adding “this has complicated the treatment of the equipment as a city asset.” Therefore, council was asked to consider either including an operating/maintenance budget for the new equipment, amounting to $2,400, or providing funding to the club for equipment maintenance/repair. With support from staff, council voted in support of the first option.
Regarding the Blackburn Park project, Mayor Alan Harrison asked what money was allocated in the budget contributing to the anticipated 5.59 per cent tax increase? City administrator Erin Jackson said the project was in the budget at $1 million, funded from a $300,000 contribution from the Shuswap Youth Soccer Association, $386,000 from the Blackburn Park Reserve, $218,145 from the Growing Communities Fund and $95,855 from the Community Works Grant.
“The reason I ask… I want to make it clear the information given about the two reserves does not affect the amount that’s been put into the budget for that project,” said Harrison.
Coun. Debbie Cannon asked if the funding would be enough to get the project started in the spring. Engineering and Public Works director Rob Niewenhuizen said design work is needed for it to move forward and, based on an opinion of probable cost pegging the project at $1.2 million, additional funding would be needed.
Niewenhuizen said staff would be meeting with the soccer association to discuss the design work.
“We should find a path to move forward with the design,” said Niewenhuizen. “I suspect that will be a public process. That design will lead to a higher level of estimate and that way we’ll know what the real shortfall is for the construction of the project.”
“My sort of analysis of that is this is not going to hold up the project getting started because the design work is the start of the project. You can’t do it without the design,” replied Harrison who, earlier in the discussion, noted the role user groups might share in making up the funding shortfall.
“From my point of view… we’ve come up with a million bucks. This is going to get things going,” said Harrison.
Coun. Kevin Flynn hoped the estimate received by the city included the cost of design work.
In response to a request from council, Van de Capelle’s report also included a summary from the Shuswap Recreation Society, breaking down revenues received from bookings of city ball diamonds, soccer/football fields, park users and outdoor courts. In 2023, total revenue was $41,382. The year prior it was $30,335. Commenting on this, Flynn noted how, during the budget process, the city was asked by organizations to fund various recreation/sports related improvements.
“I think we had… maybe $10 million plus of requests,” said Flynn. “I just want to take this opportunity to make people realize that the community invests in these and they don’t generate much revenue, and we keep our user fees low in an effort to allow people to use the facilities, and I think this starkly shows how little revenue recreational facilities generate.”
Coun. Tim Lavery suggested more work is needed to educate the public.
“This council has carried on the tradition of community support from here… we’ve talked a little bit about the general public not being aware of the costs of things. I think that we all need to be out there educating folks,” said Lavery.
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