ATHABASCA — User rates at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex will increase three per cent next month, after the board overseeing the facility made a few tweaks to the budget at its March 2 meeting.
Multiplex general manager Rhonda Alix reminded the Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County councillors, who make up the society's board of directors, the capital budget was approved in principle at the Jan. 17 meeting and was brought back with information on the cost of the proposed ice canvas for the arena and a three per cent cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all staff.
“Total cost for the canvas would it be $28,000, the rec grant is $21,000 so, then the Multiplex cost would be $7,000 plus purchase of a rack and storage for it which is (a) 2.9-year payback without adding the purchase of the rack and the storage unit,” said Alix.
Facility manager Tim Wolfenberg noted that adding the rack and storage unit for $7,000 would double the payback time.
“So, we would use this Goal-to-Goal Solution and I have talked with them, and two other facilities are using it right now in Alberta and then there's a few throughout Canada and the world using it,” Alix said. “So, he's maybe sold about 10 or so of these ice canvases.”
She said she spoke with the Thorsby recreation manager where they use the ice canvases, and the comments were not favourable.
“Pros are the rings are incorporated into the mesh and that makes that part easy,” she said. “The cons are you may have to deal with the tears and damage from the Zamboni blade hitting it. You have to wait until the ice melts at the end of season and the mesh dries before removing for storage. The mesh has to be stored rolled up. It's promoted as being able to have thinner working ice at 26 degrees, but they find the ice is soft and very hard to skate on so, they run their ice at 17 degrees and shoot for an ice thickness of one-and-a-quarter inches.”
The Thorsby minor hockey association likes the canvas but it’s difficult to install it without bubbles and it takes four to eight people five hours to roll it out and an additional five days to get the ice to thickness.
“I asked, ‘Are you happy with the product’ and their head operator said, ‘No, my preference would be paint, it is easier, quicker and easy to maintain throughout the year,’” said Alix.
Wolfenberg said labour varies but painting the lines and installing the ice is less labour intensive than the slow process of building up the ice in thinner layers to ensure the canvas remains flat.
“It's about $1,700 for the painting products to lay out the entire ice sheet,” he said. “We usually need a three-to-four-person crew to start building the ice and that will be about three to four, eight-hour days doing that. And then from there, it is just kind of a two-person job and building ice thickness until we can start operating the Zamboni.”
“That hard ice and lower temperature, which is what minor hockey and figure skating want, they won’t want soft ice, so this mostly cancels the savings,” said Town of Athabasca mayor Rob Balay. “And also, the installation is just as much overall time as the old way.”
The society members decided not to spend $14,000 on the purchase of the ice canvas, racks, and storage unit and the COLA increased the budget by $39,325.80 but with fee increases it would offset the cost and reduce the requisition to the town and county which is $825,000 each.
User rates on the rise
Administration also recommended increasing user rates, which have not gone up since 2019.
Alix said a three per cent increase would bump revenue by $15,000 if implemented right away and a three per cent membership fee increase would net an additional $9,750, but if the fee changes don’t start until Sept. 1, it would only bring in $3,250.
“These numbers will fluctuate depending on the usage and drop-in numbers throughout the building,” said Alix. “So, the recommendation is a motion to approve the 2022 facility rates with a three per cent increase except for the previous motion for the ball diamond rental changes and removal of the season caps.”
Athabasca County Coun. Joe Gerlach didn’t feel the increase was enough, saying the services provided at the Multiplex are a want, not a need.
“It's really tough, on the municipal side I see all the things we've been doing for things that people need, and then we're subsidizing to have other things that people want,” he said. “That is a very minor increase.”
Coun. Ashtin Anderson, also representing Athabasca County, suggested rounding up to the nearest $5 after the three per cent increase, so if the percentage increase raised a fee to $36.78 it would be rounded up to $40, as an example.
As of April 1, 2022, facility rental rates will go up three per cent, then rounded to the nearest $5, except for the ball diamond and dry floor curling rink rates.
