The City of Cranbrook and the RDEK are looking at how Area C can support increasing costs with the city’s recreational facilities.
The City of Cranbrook and RDEK administrations are looking to start discussions on how rural areas outside the city can help support rising operational costs for recreational facilities and programs.
The City of Cranbrook initiated the request following an external service review of the city’s recreation and culture department.
The review identified a number of challenges facing the department that include operational cost pressures, infrastructure deficits, and gaps in the department’s organizational structure.
The report suggested increasing fees, which Cranbrook city council approved on July 29, while also suggesting that administration reach out to the RDEK for a conversation about the regional districts’ willingness to support the city’s operational costs for recreational facilities and what that might look like.
“Costs for the delivery of all our City services is resulting in much higher annual tax rate increases for our residents,” wrote Mayor Wayne Price, in a letter to the RDEK. “The City is looking at ways to reduce our costs broadly but are looking very closely to Recreation and Culture services in part due to the high rates of taxpayer subsidy.”
The gap between operating costs and revenues at City recreation facilities — particularly for the two main arenas and aquatic centre — is significant, according to 2023 figures identified in the report.
The Western Financial Place aquatic centre had $1.8 million in expenses, yet only drew in $480,000 in revenue from users. The WFP arena had just over $900,000 in operational expenses, but drew in only $295,000 in revenue from users.
The remaining difference between operational expenses and revenues is subsidized by Cranbrook property tax payers.
Therein lies the crux of the issue.
Years ago, to help support the cost recovery of building Western Financial Place, Cranbrook implemented a two-tier fee system. The system included one fee for Cranbrook residents and a higher fee for those living outside the city, borne particularly by residents living in Area C — places like Gold Creek, Jim Smith lake, and Wycliffe — that aren’t within the City of Cranbrook but whose residents use city services.
Needless to say, it was unpopular for a number of reasons.
“We certainly saw how the two-tier system went,” said Price, in an interview after an RDEK board meeting on Sept. 6. “It was cumbersome. It was, in the City’s eyes, an administrative nightmare, and at the end of the day, the values weren’t there. For the convoluted process and the inconvenience for everybody, the values weren’t there. So we’ll sit down at the table, I’ve got to think that there’s a number of avenues we can look at.”
The City’s service review suggests the creation of a funding agreement between the RDEK, specifically Area C, and the City of Cranbrook that would go towards supporting operational resources at recreation facilities that benefit both populations. The funding agreement between Area C and the City of Cranbrook relating to fire protection was cited as an example.
The fire protection agreement works off a calculation that of the surrounding region’s population, 20 per cent lives outside the City of Cranbrook in Area C.
The City’s service review applied that formula to the recreation and culture operational costs, coming up with a figure of $778,000 in potential support that could come from residents who live outside the city.
“The challenge is how does Area C participate in helping the city keep these things running, which we all enjoy,” said Rob Gay, the RDEK Director for Area C.
Both the City of Cranbrook and the RDEK have yet to sit down and formally discuss what a solution might look like.
However, Mayor Price acknowledged the RDEK’s funding support for projects within the city, citing a $500,000 contribution to the recent Memorial Arena renovations, as well as previous support for the Idlewild Park revitalization project, among others.
While the City of Cranbrook and Area C wrestle with the issue, it was noted by Kimberley Mayor Don McCormick that other municipalities across the RDEK face similar issues, where rural residents who live outside a municipality can access recreational facilities that aren’t necessarily supported by their property tax dollars.
“This isn’t new, but we have to figure it out and I think that’s going to be the harder part,” said Gay.
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