Monthly Archives: July 2008

Multiplex Cost Calculator

Multiplex Cost Calculator for RM of Portage Residents

Please insert your own numbers to compare your own farm, business or residence. In this example the 2054 acres of farmland has an assessment of 2,794,700 with a 26% portioned assessment of 726,600

To repay the 6.5 Million dollar loan that will actually cost 10.7 million dollars with interest over 15 years, the RM has indicated that the amount of the mill rate to be attributed to this is 2.296 per year.

726,600 X .002296 =1,668$ per year X 15 years =25,024$


________X .002296 =_________ per year X 15 years =__________$

To arrive at an actual number for the 1.5 million that will come from the general reserve is a little more difficult as some of the money has already been collected in past years and is sitting in the RM reserves. This is money that taxpayers have already paid or are paying on their 2008 taxes The RM has indicated that if the money was taxed at a one time lump sum amount , it would equal a mill rate of 4.830

726,600 X.00483 = 3510$ One time


______ X.00483 = ______$ One Time

The RM has indicated that the Operating Deficit for the new complex will be 1.2 Million per year. While they say that they are currently in negotiations to decide on the funding arrangements for this, let’s just assume that the City / RM split this on the 2/3 – 1/3 agreement. Rural taxpayers will be on the hook for 400,000 per year, which using 2008 numbers would equal a mill rate of 1.289

726,600 X .001289 = 936$ per year X 15 years =14,048$


______ X .001289 =______ $ per year X 15 years =______ $


Over the next 15 years this amount of farmland and buildings will contribute over 42,500$ to the multiplex.

Your Total _________________$

This farm has 2 residences with an assessment of 226,200 and a 45% portioned assessment of 101,810.
101,810 X .002296 = 233$ per year X 15 years = 3506$
_______X .002296 = _______$ per year X 15 years = _______$


101,810 X .00483 = 491$ One time
_______ X .00483 = _______$ One time


101,810 X .001289 = 131$ per year X 15 years = 1968$
_______ X .001289 = _______$ per year X 15 years = _______$


Total of 5966$ for these two residences over 15 years

Your Residence Total ____________$

This is a grand total of over 48,500$ in the first 15 years.

Your Total _________________$

This is the numbers for just one average size family farm in the RM.

Other notes to consider:

  • Impending re-assessment in 2010 that is expected shift more taxation to farmland.
  • Operating Deficit will likely continue to climb as more components are added.
  • Operating Deficit will likely continue to climb as agreement with fair board is tied to Consumer Price Index.
  • The RM will have set a precedent and will be pressured to contribute to Splash Island, Centennial Arena until it is demolished or becomes some other type of recreation facility and any new projects dreamed up by the City of Portage.
  • The RM is committed to ongoing funding as long as the facility is in place, potentially for 99 years .


Taxpayers are greatly disapointed in the recent comments from the Reeve saying that the RM will not require increases in property tax rates to make payments on the debt. By dramatically increasing the amount allocated to the general reserve fund several years ago they have cushioned the blow today.

There is 800,000 allocated to the general reserve fund from 2008 taxes. From 2009 onwards they will likely use that allocation amount to cover the new 700,000 multiplex repayment from 2009 taxes

But the fact remains that taxes should be going down if they were not using that money fund the multiplex, as well as money saved from past debentures that are being paid off.

Every home owner, farmer, and commercial business owner in both the City and the RM should be sitting down with a pencil and fully understanding the implications of what the multiplex will be costing them.

Contact your City Councilor!

We here at Portage Multiplex.com have had a few people this week ask who the city councilors are, as they have been very quiet to the public the last few months.

It is not a done deal yet !

The City and RM councils have many votes yet to take to approve this project, including approving the final Fair Board rent agreement and approving the final tenders.

Here is the list with a phone number to contact each of them to make your views known.

The City of Portage la Prairie does not have a ward system, so feel free to call each and every one of them and let them know about their choice of the island location and anything else you want to add. We have provided some questions below as well.

Mayor Ken Brennan 239-6723

Councilors
Jeff Bereza 239-1390
Irvine Ferris 857-4916
Walter Keryluk 857-3925
Dave Quinn 239-6684
Janet Shindle 857-8142
Orville Wagner 857-5675

Why was the Island Location chosen over most people’s preference of the Republic Park?

How much per year does the fair board stand to benefit from this arrangement?

How much will my taxes go up?

If taxes aren’t going up, where does the money come from?

Why did you begin raising my taxes several years ago?

How much would my taxes go down if the project was cancelled?

How much will the operating deficit be every year for the Multiplex?

Now that the street is fixed in Koko Platz where several of the councilors live, when will my street be fixed?

What other projects will not be done over the next decade while we pay for the multiplex?

Is it true that the City will be at the maximum borrowing limit because of the multiplex borrowing?

What is so wrong with the current Centennial Arena facility that a good cleaning crew couldn’t fix?

What is so wrong with the Pool at Southport?

How will this bring more people to Portage when there will be less facilities in the end? No competitive pool, No grandstand , No race track ?

If you have more questions, please add them in the comments below.

Remember to remind them, It is never too late to do the RIGHT thing !

Chief wants review of native burial grounds on the Island

We’ll try to get a copy of the letter posted on the website asap….It’s very well written and informative.

Posted from the Daily Graphic July 16 2008

The recent discovery of human remains at the Wilkinson Crescent construction site may mean the City and Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie have to slow down their plan to build a multiplex at the exhibition grounds on the Island.

On July 11, Dakota Tipi First Nation Chief Cornell Pashe sent the city a letter asking to discuss their plans to begin construction on the recreation facility.

The letter refers to the remains of five adults and one child that were found by construction workers while repairing Wilkinson Crescent on May 30. The letter states more remains have since been discovered in the excavated soil from the Wilkinson Crescent site, which the contractor had used to build up the Crescent Lake embankment across from Yellowquill School.

According to the letter, “the current excavation appears to have disturbed a Dakota burial site,” and according to elders at least four other sites of significance are located in the Island Park area, including along the golf course and on the east of of the racetrack oval on the exhibition grounds.

Although Pashe explained he does not want to impede or slow the multiplex project down, in an interview with The Daily Graphic yesterday, he said he wants to make sure the history of his people is respected whenever the city digs into the ground.

“It wasn’t my intention to disrupt or be pulled into the multiplex situation, because I have children that utilize the arena, and I’m all for it,” he explained. “I’m happy that they were able to erect a building that is going to meet the needs of everyone, but at the same time, my intent is to try and have the issue resolved with our claims that we have with the federal government.”

The Dakota Tipi have been working with other Dakota First Nations in Manitoba to gain unextinguished aboriginal title in significant portions of southern Manitoba from the federal government, and Pashe is hopeful that significant sites, like the one found on Wilkinson Crescent, which was estimated to be between 150-200 years old, will help prove to the government the Dakota-Sioux people were here before the city was settled. He also wants to make sure the remains of his forefathers are dealt with respectfully at the Wilkinson site, and any other construction site in the city.

“It’s not that I want Island Park, and it’s not that I want Portage la Prairie, ” explained the chief. ” It’s just for the ancestors, for the hard times that they went through”

Portage mayor Ken Brennan told the Daily Graphic he has read the letter, and he completely understands where Pashe is coming from. A meeting has been set up a meeting between the two leaders later this week to discuss the concerns Pashe raised in the letter.

” We certainly are sensitive to some of the things he has brought out in the letter, and certainly we’re sensitive to fact that we have disturbed a gravesite” explained the mayor. ” The chief is representing his people well here, and Cornell has always been an upfront guy with me”

“I think he’s doing what he has to do; we have to be respectful, and we have to work through it to get it done properly”

The mayor is confident that a compromise can be reached, so work can begin at the site by some time next month.

“We’ve only got one shot at this. and we have to keep moving on it,” he said. ” If there is any delays, then we lose this construction year and we’re in big trouble.

The mayor and chief have scheduled a closed door meeting for Thursday morning at city hall to discuss the issue.

Delegation speaks up against multiplex

Posted from the Daily Graphic July 9 2008

In what is becoming a regular occurrence at Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie council meetings, a group of concerned ratepayers filled the gallery at the July 8 meeting to show their disapproval of council’s decision to help fund the PCU Centre in Portage.

Abe Peters, an Oakville-area farmer, was one of three delegates who spoke in front of council on behalf of the roughly 15 residents who attended the meeting.

Peters told council he has many concerns with how the RM is taxing residents to pay for the up to $8 million the RM has promised to contribute to the project, and is upset with what he called inadequate answers the RM is giving residents about how the RM will pay for operating costs once the structure is built.

At a public meeting on May 15, held to discuss plans for the multiplex, the annual operating costs for the complex were said to be as much as $1.2 million.

Following the meeting, Reeve Toby Trimble said some of the operating costs will be recovered by fees collected from users of the complex, and the rest will be paid for by the RM and the City of Portage. Trimble added money the RM receives from a tax -sharing agreement with the city will likely be used to pay the costs.

“We’ll have the ability to direct a portion of the money we receive from the tax-sharing agreement toward the operating budget of the multiplex,” explained the reeve.

Grandstand not rickety at all

Posted from the Daily Graphic July 14 2008

Why demolish the racetrack and grandstand?

During the Sunday evening entertainment at the Portage Industrial Exhibition, I climbed to the upper reaches of the grandstand without any fear of the structure collapsing or crumbling as was indicated by the elected officials.

There were many other folks who did not think it was a hazard to be there. The grandstand is not as creaky as was professed to us citizens of the city and the rural municipality of Portage.

I scanned the scene from the east through the south and to the west and observed what a beautiful oval track we have and the serenity and peace surrounding it. I imprinted this scene in my mind because, in five years’ time, I’ll see a huge complex without the track and the grandstand and the sadness I have to bear forever. I stepped down from the stand, took one last look around, and, with a tear or two, walked out dazed and broken hearted.

Citizens of the city, please go there anytime and view for yourself what I had just witnessed. Your hearts would be affected the same as did mine.

Henry I. Romance

Portage la Prairie

Farewell to grandstand, racetrack

Posted from the Daily Graphic July 14 2008

Hats off to the Portage fair board.

I would just like to commend the organizers for bringing such top-notch entertainment to the Portage Industrial Exhi-bition this year. George Canyon was an excellent choice for a crowd pleaser, as was the talented Bryce Pallister band.

I was also impressed how organized the direction for parking was this year. As we were leaving after the show, all we could see was a steady stream, bumper to bumper, of headlights leaving the grounds, and we thought we’d be there all night trying to get out, but to our surprise, the attendants directing traffic did a marvelous job of alternating exits out of the grounds.

As we were sitting in the grandstand watching the show, I was a little saddened by the thought of the grandstand being demolished to make room for the new multiplex rec centre. I’m sure when the Terrier games are being held at the new centre’s rink, the traffic trying to leave the parking lot to get over the Island Bridge won’t be as well organized as it was during the fair. I doubt you are going to have attendants directing traffic both out of the parking lot and at the four-way stop at the end of the bridge. There will also be more cars going to the Island, as many Terrier fans walked to the current location in the north end and you won’t be having people walking to the Island when it’s 30-below or anyone directing traffic.

The decision to locate the multiplex at the Island will come back to haunt the city council. Be warned!

Lynda Yachyshen

Portage la Prairie

Presentation made to RM Council July 8 2008

Gentlemen

Over the last few weeks I have ran out of words to describe how disappointed I am in the current RM council. You were elected or acclaimed in the belief that you would do a good job in representing the interests and priorities of the rural residents while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

No one expected you to blindside the rural farmers and businesses and potentially bankrupt our great municipality so that a select few could benefit from a multiplex built within the city on the fair grounds.

Past councils earned great respect from ratepayers by focusing on priorities that were needed in the RM , not on grand schemes of limited value to RM residents. Past councils have said NO to requests for capital funding for recreation facilities that are actually located within the RM and used primarily by RM residents. So when the city made such a fuss over the multiplex in the past election there was no thought by ratepayers that the RM would get dragged into this grand scheme.

Not one of you gentlemen mentioned the multiplex in the past election. I presume it would be because the ratepayers would have gave you the same answer as they did in 1975, a resounding NO !

Any respect for this RM council is sadly diminished in a year when people cannot even get to work when it rains, and now they are expected to pay for this fiasco.

But I would like to offer the RM council 2 ways to earn back some respect and atone for their support of this project.

From my basic calculations and best guesstimates I am expecting this multiplex to cost my family farm at least 40,000$ over the next 15 years. I would like to be more accurate but I am told that I have to wait upto 30 days for my information request of June 30th to be processed. I guess you have to wait to see how over budget the tenders are before my questions can be answered accurately.

Since this is my forced commitment to this project, I would like to know how committed you individual councillors are to the multiplex.

How many of you who supported this project by voting in favor of the tender resolution 2 weeks ago are willing to write a check and donate at least 40,000$ today ? Could I have a show of hands ?

( Note that neither the reeve nor any councillors raised there hands to support the project by donating their own money )

If you don’t have 40,000$ extra to donate, well join the club because neither do I.

If you are not willing to put your own money into this project then I offer you a different way to earn back the respect of the ratepayers.

Since the reeve and councillors never asked for any input from RM residents on their willingness or ability to be a part of this project, and have steadfastly refused to hold a referendum on this multiplex, I ask for your immediate resignation.

A byelection is a small price to pay to see if the ratepayers are as proud of this project as the reeve and councilors are and if re-elected you will receive your mandate and the debate will be over.

If you don’t get re-elected then the new RM council can decide what to do and if they choose they can remove the RM from this project before a shovel is in the ground and one more dollar is wasted.

It is widely expected that the next scheduled election will bring a new reeve and councilors as the electorate is openly disgusted with the way this matter has been handled and the lack of information that was freely provided to the rate payers. Even the information sheet with the recent tax notices never mentioned the word multiplex in it.

If we must wait until the next scheduled election to replace you, it will be too late to stop this project and we will have these costs dragging down our RM for generations.

So either get  your checkbooks out or put your jobs on the line.

The ratepayers of the RM of Portage expect better than we have received from this council.

Thank You

Dwayne Leslie
RM of Portage

Piranha membership not declining

Posted from the Herald Leader July 12 2008

In a recent interview with The Daily Graphic/Herald Leader, at no time was the size of membership of the Portage Piranha swim club ever discussed with me, so I do not know where the reporter got information stating: “The club, has seen it’s membership dwindle significantly over the last five years and hoped a new competitive tank in the centre of the city would have a rejuvenating effect.”

Our current membership has increased during the last three years and is presently anywhere from 80 to 100 swimmers, which include mini, pre-competitive, competitive and lap swimmers. The Portage Piranha swim club currently rents the Southport Aquaplex from the City of Portage la Prairie for 12 hours a week, from the beginning of September to the end of June, which is our competitive season.

In previous years, we have held invitational meets as well as hosted the short course Junior Provincial B championships. At these events, there are usually between 230 and 250 swimmers competing to better their times. Along with the swimmers come parents, siblings, coaches and higher ranking officials. The city of Portage benefits from these events as many of the swimmers and their families are from far off areas such as Thompson, Flin Flon, Dauphin, Brandon, Winnipeg, etc. These travellers have to find accommodations at various motels, frequent restaurants and diners for meals, shop at grocery stores for energy snacks, visit service stations, and purchase whatever other items may be necessary while in our city. We have always received comments on how well run the events are as well as how friendly the residents are.

I think a new regulation size competition pool would benefit all who use the complex, not only the swim club.

Brent Bailey

PPSC president

What’s next for Portage RM, a casino?

Posted from the Herald Leader July 12 2008

Thank you, Mr. Raymond Verwey, for your July 5 letter in the Herald Leader. I believe your views are supported by many RM constituents. As a landowner in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, but not a resident, I too am outraged I did not have a vote in a non-essential service money output.

What will the RM of Portage want to support next? Maybe a casino! That’s entertainment. Maybe a movie theatre? If municipal councillors want this so badly, let them get all the money from residences not farm land.

Farm land has been taxed unfairly through school taxation and now this. I sincerely hope not one RM councillor that voted in favour of this gets re-elected. We do deserve better.

Tim Sawatzky

RM of North Norfolk