Chestermere City Council approved the funding for the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event to be drawn from the Council Priority Stabilization Restricted Surplus Account at the March 3 Regular Meeting of Council.
At the Feb. 4 Regular Meeting of Council, the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event was approved by city council. However, it was unfunded, as it was a new event for Chestermere.
“On Feb. 4, we mentioned that we anticipated about $150,000 of net spending to occur, which meant we would have to find $150,000 somewhere within the budget,” said the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Brenda Hewko.
“We anticipate the majority of this will be funded through Council’s Priority Stabilization Restricted Surplus Account,” she said.
In February, it was anticipated that the value in the account would be roughly $150,000. However, now the 2019-year-end balance could be roughly $129,000 to $130,000.
“We also have anticipated there is a need for an additional funding source, and that money would come out of the General Corporate Stabilization Restricted Surplus Account,” Hewko said.
“We’re likely to draw some funding out of general corporate if we need to,” she added.
“I can advise that there is substantial enthusiasm in this community, and in the surrounding community regarding this announcement,” said Mayor Marshall Chalmers.
Council previously authorized Chalmers and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Bernie Morton to signature the agreement.
“As we’ve come to learn, we have to establish where the money is coming from because it’s new, it’s not in the budget,” Chalmers said.
With all revues in, and all expenses out, the city will be required to support the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event by $150,000, Hewko said.
While the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event could generate $5,000 to $10,000 in profits.
“There is some kind of profit, but it’s not a lot of profit,” Hewko said.
“The event that Pinty’s has done in prior communities, for the most part, ticket revenue supports all of the expenses for the event that occur. The total sales of tickets, in theory, should offset all expenses,” Hewko said.
However, the City of Chestermere is funding
the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event, and splitting the revenues generated with the Chestermere Regional Community Association (CRCA).
“We know that we’re going to be requesting a lot of support from the CRCA,” Hewko said.
“The strategy put forth, and supported on Feb. 4, is that the revenues would be split between the CRCA and the city. However, the expenses would be solely the responsibility of the city,” she added.
“Because of the challenges the CRCA was facing related to the renovations and repairs required for the red rink, requiring them to support the expenses component of hosting this event would not be feasible at this particular time,” Morton said.
The expenses include the construction of VIP boxes, the installation of temporary seating, and the expenses of the ticketing company, while Sportsnet is paying for the rental of the facility.
“What we indicated is that we would backstop the initial upfront costs,” Morton said.
Currently, there are remaining funds in the 2019 account.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure that we use the funds from 2019 for this particular event, rather than putting it as an unbudgeted item. There are funds that are sitting in the 2019 account that can be used for this event,” Morton said.
