(rdnewsNOW/Troy Gillard)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

cash call debated

Red Deer city council bucks up $50,000 for Canadian Finals Rodeo

Jun 10, 2019 | 6:52 PM

The Canadian Finals Rodeo will be getting another $50,000 from The City of Red Deer this year.

City council approved the request from CFR at its meeting on Monday night in a 7-1 vote (Buck Buchanan was absent).

The decision was met with some reluctance, particularly from Councillor Vesna Higham who couldn’t justify granting another $50,000 to CFR when last year’s ask was supposed to be a one-time venture.

“There’s no question that I support CFR, but does that have to always translate into a financial contribution? I would say no, it does not,” Higham opined.

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“The fact that it’s framed in a package of sponsorship is more palatable for sure because it’s like investment in marketing, but I just can’t overcome that it was billed as a one-time request for the inaugural event to put our best foot forward.”

Higham also expressed concern with a precedent this may set in terms of providing funding to other community organizations such as the Symphony.

Mayor Tara Veer, however, says there is a clear difference between this type of spending and providing ongoing funding to community organizations.

“It’s very difficult for council to choose who does and does not get funding. It is critical to delineate between one-time requests of a national scope versus ongoing operating funds,” she says.

“Organizations throughout the community, many of them have the opportunity to apply for adjudicated grant programs. The issue in Red Deer has been, for decades, events that are national in scope have had no adjudicated grant program or mechanism to come forward (and utilize).”

Veer points out this is exactly why The City of Red Deer is establishing a bid committee for larger-scale events.

She also noted that her preference is and always will be to deal with financial items at budget time, or at mid-year budget review.

Council heard during the meeting that Westerner Park and the Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce saw a financial loss during the first year of CFR. However, that shouldn’t be the case for long, according to Councillor Michael Dawe, who is a Westerner shareholder and one of council’s representatives on the Westerner board.

“My confidence level that it will be financially successful is high. There were some unexpected glitches as they moved here, but the timelines moving in here were very tight. The chance to do a lot of the legwork simply wasn’t there, but in terms of the quality of the event, it was high and the CFR were happy,” says Dawe.

“The first year revenues were not quite equal to expenses, but keep in mind some of those would include some set up, special advertising, and when you do something new, there are more costs to it until it becomes a routine.”

As part of the sponsorship, The City receives a number of perks, including signage during the sponsor parae and on all corporate thank you signage, hospitality opportunities for council and City staff, ad advertising exposure in various other venues during CFR.

Canadian Finals Rodeo is estimated to have had a $20-25 million impact on the region last year, and it’s expected it will maintain that level of spin-off over the time CFR is hosted in Red Deer. The contract is for five years, with an option to renew for five more.

Red Deer County council also approved another $50,000 contribution to CFR last week, after they did so for the first time in 2018. Their vote for this year’s edition was 5-2.