By Sheldon Spackman

facilities management

City, County sign new recreation agreement

Mar 4, 2020 | 1:52 PM

A new recreation agreement has been struck between The City of Red Deer and Red Deer County to support faclities frequented by both city and county residents.

Jo-Ann Symington, Community Services Manager at Red Deer County, says the new five-year funding formula increases the County’s contribution to the City to $828,490 in 2020 – up from $285,612 annually in the previous agreement.

Symington says the agreement allows their residents access to Red Deer’s recreation facilities and programs without facing an additional charge.

“That agreement expired in 2017, but we did an amendment to it,” she explains. “Through the last couple years we’ve been working on what could be a new, potential funding agreement, and that’s resulted in this new one being put forward to our council.”

The recreation agreement, which has been in place since the late 1990’s accounts for The City providing recreation and cultural facilities and programs, which are commonly accessed and utilized by county residents.

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“When we looked at all our funding for all our urban municipalities within Red Deer County, we realized there was different levels of service that were being provided,” says Symington. “So now we provide some additional funding for facilities and programs that are provided by urban municipalities, and this has been applied to all urban municipalities in Red Deer County.”

Symington notes the agreement acknowledges the reciprocal role that both rural and urban municipalities play in the provision and support of regional recreation and culture services.

“Through these agreements, County residents can access recreation and culture services without additional costs due to their location,” she points out. “We look forward to providing great opportunities to our residents regardless of where they live.”

In addition to the payment of this grant, County officials say the City may, on a case-by-case basis, request capital contributions from the County towards new or refurbished facilities.

“These funds are used to contribute to the operating costs of City facilities and programs,” explains Shelley Gagnon, City of Red Deer Recreation, Parks and Culture Manager, in a news release. “The money ensures County residents continue to have access to recreation and culture programs, services and facilities in Red Deer, without an additional charge or levy, over and above what Red Deer residents pay.”

The Recreation and Culture Agreement with City of Red Deer includes the following items:

· The County and City agree to a five-year (5) year term beginning in 2020 and ending in 2024.

· The City will receive a base grant of $200,000 for their population based on their 2016 census population.

· The City will be granted per capita funding for the first three years at $30 per capita and years 4 and 5 at $40 per capita. The per capita funding is based on the rural population of 6,533 County residents within the urban municipality catchment area.

· The City will receive funding for the following facilities owned and/or operated by the municipality: indoor arenas, field houses, outdoor fields, skateboard park, indoor pool, cemeteries, arts/cultural center, curling rink.

· The County agrees to pay $828,490 for the first 3 years and $893,820 for years 4 and 5.

· The payment helps cover only operating and maintenance costs (not capital costs) for the City’s Recreation facilities. Red Deer County Council will address requests for capital contributions on a case-by-case basis.

· The annual payment from the County ensures that participants from Red Deer County have access to City facilities and programs and are entitled to the same registration fee as City residents.

· The agreement includes a clause regarding a dispute resolution mechanism.

Based on the level of cooperation between Red Deer County and the City of Red Deer, county officials feel the agreement is appropriate, noting funding for the agreement has been allocated in the 2020 Community Services Operating Budget.

(With file from media release)