How much will the Town of Barrhead receive from the County of Barrhead for jointly run recreation facilities and programs?
That is the question town councillors asked during their Oct. 10 meeting. It is also a question they will be asking the county for the second time after councillors unanimously supported Coun. Ryan Warehime’s motion to do so.
Council first asked the question to county manager Debbie Oyaraun in a letter dated March 3.
“Basically this is a question we pose to the county every year and sometime during the fiscal year they let us know how much they will be contributing, based on a formula that they have,” said mayor Gerry St. Pierre. “But so far in 2017 we have received no contribution for the Agrena, or the pool, nor have they told us what we can expect.”
Chief administrative officer Martin Taylor said he followed up council’s initial query in late September, but as of yet he hasn’t received an answer, except to say that they received the town’s initial letter.
“Let’s remember we have an agreement with them that states they will contribute what they see is fair and reasonable [towards operational recreation funding],” St. Pierre added.
The agreement St. Pierre is referring to is the Aquatic Centre Capital Agreement that the town and county signed in Jan. 2015. Under its terms the county agreed to contribute $5 million towards the $12.78 million construction costs of the facility and in exchange they would contribute what they felt was equitable towards recreation operational costs. The agreement expires this month.
In 2016, the county contributed $88,860, which was broken into three components: Agrena operating costs $59,560, wages for three summer program workers $24,300 and $5,000 towards summer program expenditures.
The Barrhead Leader contacted County of Barrhead manager Debbie Oyarzun to ask when the town could expect an answer to their inquiry.
She said via e-mail that although the county has not come up with a complete total they have approved to contribute $92,207 towards recreation funding in 2017 broken down in the following manner:
• For summer recreational programming, $24,699.
• Supervision of summer program, a contracted service, $5,000.
• Contribution to Agrena operating costs, $62,538.
“During budget deliberations earlier in the year, council had assumed the results of the arbitration would have already been announced,” she said. “As we continue to wait for that decision, I have scheduled an item on the upcoming council meeting Oct. 25 to request a transfer of funds from reserves to contribute to the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre for the portion of the year that it is open.”
In April of this year, Alberta Municipal Affairs minister Shaye Anderson ordered the town and county to enter into binding arbitration to come up with a recreation agreement. It is expected the arbitrator’s decision will be announced within the next month.
