Bashaw town council has issued a limited time only offer for any out of town arena users.
At their April 18 meeting, council approved cutting the non-local ice rental rates on a trial basis for one year. The new rates for the 2019-20 season will be $100 per hour for youth user groups and $120 per hour for adults.
That’s a drop of $25 and $15 per hour respectively and the hope is that by doing this will, it help attract more usage of the arena.
CAO Theresa Fuller explained though, there is a bit of a catch 22 in doing this.
“While we have had some comments that our non-local rates were too high, would lowering them actually see more rentals? We haven’t had any real requests for this, but simply felt it could be something to look at,” she said.
“Also, we want to increase the arena’s usage, but our local groups are doing as much as they can afford right now.”
Earlier in the meeting, council heard from a pair of students from the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus about the results from their research into the town’s recreation policy that found Bashaw’s ice rental rates for 2018-19 were in line with other similar sized communities.
The research, a practical exercise that was part of a rural political studies class, showed that Bashaw’s were within about $5 to $10 per hour of the majority of those comparable communities when looking at non-resident rental rates.
The students added that comments about the out of town rates being too high just wasn’t accurate, but that lowering the rates certainly wouldn’t hurt Bashaw.
Given that helpful information, Coun. Rosella Peterman put out the suggestion that the non-local rates be dropped for the coming season.
“Just to see what kind of extra use or revenue that generates and if it doesn’t pay off then we can come revert back to the old rates,” she said.
However, Coun. Lynn Schultz wasn’t totally sold on the idea.
“It’s a two-edged sword, as there is not a lot of sense of the arena being open with people using it and then losing money.” he said.
Fuller added that current non-local use of the arena isn’t really a significant amount and that lowering the rate may well help increase it.
Noting it is worth a try, Mayor Penny Shantz accepted the motion from Coun. Rob McDonald to adjust the non-local rates for one year, which was approved unanimously.