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Ruling made in binding arbitration case

The County of Barrhead will have to pay the town a minimum annual contribution of no less than $300,000 towards the core operating costs of the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre, the Agrena and the curling rink. That was the decision Deborah M.
Municipal Affairs minister Shaye Anderson (m) with county reeve Doug Drozd (r) and mayor Dave McKenzie at the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre on Nov. 1. Anderson ordered
Municipal Affairs minister Shaye Anderson (m) with county reeve Doug Drozd (r) and mayor Dave McKenzie at the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre on Nov. 1. Anderson ordered the town and county into binding arbitration in late March.

The County of Barrhead will have to pay the town a minimum annual contribution of no less than $300,000 towards the core operating costs of the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre, the Agrena and the curling rink.

That was the decision Deborah M. Howes informed administration and the councils of both municipalities via a Nov. 15 e-mail as part of the binding arbitration process ordered by Alberta Municipal Affairs minister Shaye Anderson. The Leader learned of Howes’ ruling in a joint Nov. 17 press release issued by the municipalities.

In late March, Alberta Municipal Affairs minister Shaye Anderson ordered the town and county to enter binding arbitration to come up with a long term recreational agreement after multiple failed attempts including a provincially mandated mediation.

The proposed agreement will run until 2027 and payments will be based on the county’s total taxable assessment or an average thereof.

In 2018, the county’s contribution will be a sum equal to 0.03403 per cent of its 2017 total taxable assessment. In 2019, it will be a sum equal to 0.03403 of the average of the total taxable assessment for 2017 and 2018.

From the year 2020 to 2027 the percentage increases slightly to 0.03404 and the county’s contribution will be based on the average of its total taxable assessment for the prior three years. Howes notes that the county’s contribution will never fall below $312,679, no matter what the county’s total taxable assessment is.

The ruling stipulates that the Town of Barrhead “will manage and make all decisions related to these facilities” and that the municipalities have until Dec. 1 to ratify the agreement.

The sticking point between the two municipalities, is that the town, over the years, has believed that since close to half and in some cases more than half of users of the major recreation facilities are county residents and that they should be contributing somewhere near 50 per cent towards their operation. In recent years the amount the county has contributeed has fallen far short of that amount, somewhere in the 14 per cent range. For example, for 2017 county councillors approved to contribute $92,207 towards recreation funding in 2017 broken down in the following manner: summer recreational programming, $24,699, supervision of summer program, a contracted service, $5,000 and contribution to Agrena operating costs, $62,538. It should be noted that that council delayed coming up with an amount for the aquatic centre as they were waiting for the arbitrator’s decision.

Although the town will not release its recreational operational costs until the spring, it is expected the Agrena operational deficit will be about $450,000. The same can be said about the aquatic centre, but a preliminary budget, created by former parks and recreation director Sue Keenan, in August 2015, predicted its operational deficit at about $459,000.

County councillors have stated that on numerous occasions they are making a significant contribution to recreation as seen by their willingness to contribute to construction cost of the aquatic centre. While although it is not the county’s official policy, for the last number of years multiple councillors have stated their hesitance to contribute to operational costs of facilities and events.

County reeve Doug Drozd said the county wouldn’t make an official comment until council had a chance to discuss it as a whole at their Nov. 21 meeting, noting Town of Barrhead Mayor Dave McKenzie has been invited to the meeting.

“I know all the councillors and administration staff that have been involved through this process did their due diligence, gave the arbitrator all the information they could, and she made her decision. We just have to move on from here,” he said. “But I think this is just another example of the fairly good relationship and partnership between the town and county.”


Barry Kerton

About the Author: Barry Kerton

Barry Kerton is the managing editor of the Barrhead Leader, joining the paper in 2014. He covers news, municipal politics and sports.
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