Council directed administration to add a $10,000 line item to the operations budget, Jan. 27, to assist the Jasper Heritage Rodeo Association with its move to an outdoor venue.
The association requested financial assistance from council prior to the budget process, and—because of the circumstances surrounding the rodeo’s move—council decided it was appropriate to allocate the requested funds to ensure the event’s future success.
The rodeo has been held indoors at the Jasper Arena since 1978, but after a fire in the Zamboni room last year and a review of the town’s services, it became evident that the municipality wasn’t charging enough for the use of the space or for the cost of cleaning it.
So, once it was clear the rodeo wouldn’t be able to afford the new rental fee or cleaning fees, council encouraged the rodeo association to work with Parks Canada to find an outdoor location.
Although council hoped that move would take place in 2014—leaving the arena in pristine condition after the professional cleaning it underwent following the fire—there wasn’t enough time for the association to jump through all of the necessary hoops to make an outdoor rodeo a reality. So, for one last time, the event was held in the arena last year, on the condition that not only would it be the last indoor rodeo, the rodeo association would also undertake increased cleaning responsibilities.
Following a discussion at committee-of-the-whole Jan. 13, council left it to the municipality’s director of finance to determine how best to allocate the funds without increasing the budget.
The solution presented by Alice Lettner, Jan. 27, was to take $7,500 from the Family and Community Support Services budget, which had been earmarked for research into a community foundation, and $2,500 from Council Projects.
There is still $2,500 left in FCSS budget for research, and according to Lettner that should be more than sufficient to bring in a guest speaker from the Edmonton Community Foundation and to host a community-wide presentation on how to develop a fund in Jasper.
Remaining in the Council Projects budget will be $7,500. Those funds could be used for a number of initiatives, depending on what crops up over the course of the year.
The $10,000 council has allocated to the rodeo will appear as its own separate line item under Council Projects and will only be expended if the rodeo association is able to come to an agreement with Parks on a location.
“I’m happy with that,” said Coun. Gilbert Wall, folllowing Lettner’s suggestion. “My concern was to have it occupy its own budget line and this does that. By doing that it’s specific to that project, if the project doesn’t proceed the budget line does not get deleted.”
The municipality is currently operating under a interim budget, as administration waits for the final figures to be calculated for 2014. Those numbers are expected to arrive by mid-February and the operations budget is expected to be on the council agenda shortly after for a final decision.
As it stands, the budget calls for a 4.37 per cent tax increase, as well as a 19.71 per cent increase to the town’s water rates.
By waiting for the actuals from 2014, council will have a better understanding of the overall budget—where administration budgeted too much or too little—presumably allowing for a more accurate budget for 2015.
In the meantime, administration will operate under the interim budget, continuing business as usual.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
