Athabasca County’s budget and finance committee remained at an impasse on additional recreational dollars for the Village of Boyle after a Jan. 10 meeting.
The Village of Boyle requested the county provide additional funding to the co-owned Boyle ball diamonds, the operating deficit for the Boyle Community Centre, the operation of a future spray park in Boyle and to the Boyle Community Youth and Fitness Centre.
If approved, the funding requests would bring the amount Athabasca County pays Boyle for recreation costs to $168,000, according to Athabasca County director of corporate services Brian Pysyk. The draft budget had only allotted $104,000 for Boyle recreation.
Committee chair and county Coun. Larry Armfelt suggested the county could give Boyle a dollar increase based on a percentage, but not a figure that would meet all their demands.
“Historically, we have treated Boyle pretty good. We have to make something that is palatable to our ratepayers, too,” Armfelt said. “There is a lot of difference between what you wish for and what you really need.”
Several committee members stated opposition to the idea of funding half of the Boyle Community Centre operating deficit. The Village of Boyle proposed the idea, noting that the county funds half of the operating costs of the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, which acts as a community centre.
Coun. Christi Bilsky said the county funds all of its community halls for 50 per cent of insurance and utilities, and it did not make sense to provide more than that for Boyle.
“Why would we give you more?” Bilsky said. “I’m sorry, the Multiplex is where it is. It’s a regional Multiplex for everybody to use in our county, and I can’t help that. I can’t keep paying everywhere in my mind just because that is there.”
Athabasca County Reeve Doris Splane said she also takes issue with funding the operating deficit of the Boyle Community Centre. But she added overall, council needed to consider the role Boyle plays as a hub within Athabasca County.
“We have to remember that the Village of Boyle serves a good portion of our ratepayers and even when there’s tax increase, it’s those ratepayers that are paying as well,” Splane said.
Pysyk said the next draft of the budget would likely not include funding half of the operating deficit of the Boyle Community Centre, reflecting committee discussion. The next draft will likely include the rest of Boyle’s recreation funding requests, he said, with the committee to decide whether to break that down further.
Boyle’s funding requests came as the committee sought to make cuts to balance the draft budget over the course of the meeting. At a previous meeting, the committee had already decided on going forward with a two-per-cent municipal tax increase with approximately $8.2 million to come out of reserves, according to Pysyk.
Although the committee agreed they could not fund the entirety of Boyle’s request, Armfelt said he wanted to continue a history of fairness to Boyle.
“In the past, we have been very – I don’t want to say very kind – we have been very fair to Boyle, and I want to continue that,” he said.
Committee members ultimately decided to leave a final decision until at least its next meeting Feb. 5.
Athabasca County’s 2018 budget is in draft stages and has not received final approval from county council.
