In the spirit of co-operation and goodwill to help to achieve grant funding, Town of Taber council agreed to exempt the Taber Viper Swim Club from its three-per-cent increase ($250) in facility rental fees for its upcoming season... but not without some hesitation.
A small delegation from the swim club was on hand for council’s Feb. 13 meeting for the 2012 facility rental fee reduction request. Taber Viper Swim Club had been approached by the Town of Taber to partner on a Community Facilities Enhancement Program grant application to tile the pool at the Aquafun Centre. If successful in securing the CFEP grant, it would mean $125,000 towards the project that is being estimated to cost $250,000.
“By giving this ($250) reduction, we feel it would be an acknowledgment from the town of our partnership and participation in this grant process,” said Carla Saunders, president of the Taber Viper Swim Club in making its case to town council.
In a question from Coun. Garth Bekkering, Gordon Frank, chief administrative officer for the Town of Taber confirmed municipalities by themselves are not eligible for community enhancement facility programs as a single entity upon themselves.
Although only a meagre amount of money in the long run, Coun. Randy Sparks warned of the precedent that would be set in approving the rental fee reduction request.
“It is a small price to pay to secure a grant, but a word of caution. Taber Minor Hockey has also partnered with the town on many occasions for CFEP funding and has yet never received a reduction of annual rental fees of any such,” said Sparks. “For a huge user group who pays tens of thousands of dollars to the Town of Taber for rental of facilities, is the same going to be offered to them? A three-per-cent reduction in their costs would go along way in cutting costs for them also. Two hundred and twenty dollars isn’t a lot of money, but a word of caution, there are other organizations in the town that have done the same thing, but have not received any reduction in their rental fees, because they felt that was a small price to pay for the facility they were using to be enhanced.”
Coun. Louie Tams inquired who would be doing all the paper work with the CFEP grant, in which Frank replied the town would, including acquiring the necessary signatures from the Taber Viper Swim Club.
Taber Viper Swim Club has 67 swimmers, according to Saunders, with an executive of 10 members apart of from volunteers needed to run local swim meets. The summer competitive swim program runs from the beginning of May until mid-August. Rental fees for the Swim Club for the upcoming season were expected to be $8,300.
The 2012 facility rental fee reduction request from Taber Viper Swim Club was approved with the caveat that the application for the CFEP grant proves successful in securing the $125,000 in grant funding. Mayor Ray Bryant and Coun.(s) Randy Sparks, John Papp, Rick Popadynetz and Murray Rochelle voted in favour of the motion for the rental fee reduction request, while Coun.(s) Louie Tams and Garth Bekkering opposed.
“On one hand I struggled with this a bit because it was almost like we were being held for ransom. But the more I thought about it, we do have a user group that uses the facility and if they don’t step forward and partner with us, then are we going to miss out on $125,000,” said Bryant. “If we can’t apply for these grants, but we want these upgrades to happen within our facility, then we are going to have to work with partners along the line. I think it’s a small price to pay in getting a $125,000 grant.”