The True Story of the New Arenas Program

A lot has been written (letters to the editor, emails) and said about Council’s recent decision respecting the arenas, much of it not based on fact. This is a story about Council fulfilling its mandate. The purpose of the Town is to ensure a good quality of life for its citizens. It provides facilities and programs that allow its citizens to have fulsome lives for them and their families. The Town identifies needs (not wants) for diverse leisure and active living. The significant growth in the community over the last 25 years has meant means an accelerated need for facilities and programs. This has led to the two new fire stations, and an upgraded third one for fire safety; extensive new indoor and outdoor soccer facilities; two new libraries; upgraded cultural facilities; the gallery and the theatre; to support for theatre production companies like Globe by keeping the Armories, preserving heritage through the Devereaux House; building of the Gellert Centre with its great pool facility and meeting rooms and assembly areas.

In 2006 a Recreation Master Plan was adopted addressing the needs for recreation facilities to 2016. In keeping with that Plan the Town has already built parks, trails and soccer fields. The Plan identified the need for at least two new ice pads. Council did not simply proceed to build those two new ice pads but rather appointed an “Arenas Task Force” to clarify the need, and to make suggestions as to how best to meet that need.

The Task Force indicated a need for three new ice pads, not just two. Council, on February 28th last, decided that two new pads was all that could be afforded especially in the face of still providing other needed leisure and active living facilities. The third pad to be constructed as part of the program is to replace the 89 year old Memorial Arena which can no longer be maintained in a fiscally prudent manner. Any capital dollars put into the Memorial Arena would be wasted dollars as the Memorial Arena would continue to lose $145,000 a year in operating costs.

With the two new arena pads at Moldmasters, the Moldmasters “quad” will generate a significant “profit” aside from the capital investment. With the addition of a new pad to the Acton Arena “twinning” will also generate a “profit” on an operating basis.

In terms of the capital dollars needed, the program will cost $29.2M over the next five years but only 1/6th ($5.2M) of that capital will require new tax dollars. The remainder will come from existing tax dollars ($14.8M), user rate surcharges ($2.4M), users funding campaign ($1M), development charges ($4.8M) and developer contributions ($1M). It is also important to recognize that new growth, whether in Acton or Georgetown, has been over the last 20 years and will continue in the future to contribute development charges to new arenas. So this is a commitment that previous Councils have given long ago by collecting development charges for these facilities. This is not a new commitment.

I should also state that these arenas are “community centres” no different than the Gellert Community Centre. The Moldmaster complex and the Acton Arena and Community Centre Complex are community gathering places. They are not just hockey places. There are many other activities that are carried on now and for which the new arena pads will provide greater opportunities. These include winter activities like figure skating, speed skating, more recreational skating, broomball, ringette. In the summer, there is lacrosse, ball hockey, inline hockey. They will also allow for expanded community activities like “homecomings”, trade shows, dog shows, and community celebrations.

Some have asked but what about the new gymnasium and a senior’s centre for Gellert? Those are identified needs that will be provided in the future when Council can afford them. But Council is committed to them as demonstrated by its budgeting in the capital forecast for the design of those facilities.

In closing, let me add that the new tax dollars of 5.2M will be raised by small dedicated tax increases of only .2% in 2013 and 1% in each of 2014 and 2015. That will amount to only a $2.45 in increase in 2013; and a $12.40 increase in each of 2014 and 2015 on a house assessed at $350,000. That small investment will provide these new facilities for the benefit of the entire community for the next 50 years or more. In my books this story is about the Town doing what it should be doing in a financially responsible manner to achieve needed facilities that will last a very long time and provide years and years of enjoyment in many different ways to the citizens of the Town. This is a good story. This is a good investment.