October 2009

By Tara Seel, city editor of The Daily Graphic

On the island. Off the island. Keep Centennial Arena open. Close Centennial Arena. Pave the parking lot. Don’t pave the parking lot. The Portage Credit Union Centre has touched a lot of raw nerves in this city, but there is one base fact that can’t be ignored. It is happening. Lamenting decisions that could’ve or should’ve been made is fruitless at this point.

The PCU Centre, at this point in time, seems to be bleeding money, a fact that must have city officials concerned, even refusing the pleas of an organized group of citizens. At the council meeting on Oct. 26, delegations appeared to plea for the chance to keep Centennial Arena as an operating ice surface. City councillors and the mayor were having none of it. In fact, they said that decision was made when they committed to building the PCU Centre.

It is lamentable that minor hockey is short of ice time. It is frustrating that figure skaters and rec leagues can’t get on the ice often enough. The feeling of these groups that their concerns about ice time, which were voiced well before ground was broken on the PCU Centre, have been ignored is valid. The two sheets of ice at Centennial Arena and the ice surface in Oakville serve a regional population of 20,000 people. It’s not enough. Basically, the problem of having only two city ice surfaces, and ice in Oakville has been surplanted with still having only two city ice surfaces serving the same amount of people — just in a different location.

That being said, it seems many citizens in this city want to have their cake and eat it, too. In the last four years, the city has increased funding for recreation by 232 per cent. Granted, much of this is going to the PCU Centre, but this is the mandate that was given to council by the electorate. This city wanted a multiplex. When costs were getting out of control, the city tried to cut back, eliminating the second arena and a pool. However, there was some outcry because people felt if the multiplex was to be built, it should be done right — with everything the community needed, which meant two ice surfaces. The city gained federal funding and acquiesced, reinstating the second ice surface — the Portage Mutual Arena.

The city’s debt is astronomical at present. Portage la Prairie’s general reserves went from $4,495,484 in 2006 to an estimated $1,985,312 for 2010. The fact of the matter is there is no more money. The city cannot afford a free lunch at this point, never mind keep a third ice surface open.

The Portage Minor Hockey Association delegation to city council presented a business plan saying they could keep Centennial Arena operational for $79,000 plus a higher cost to user groups. The plan covered how user groups could do much-needed repairs to the ailing arena. But, the city would still have to shell out money. The city budgets $466,339 in expenses to run the arena, only receives $234,700 in revenues, which means a net deficit of $231,324. The upgrades and repairs required for Centennial Arena over the next 2-3 years is approximately $780,500 for both sheets, in addition to the cost of the purchase of another ice resurfacer, estimated to cost $50,000-$100,000. The Rural Municipality of Portage’s agreement creating the Portage Regional Recreation Authority states the RM’s funding is limited to two sheets of ice in the city, plus grant funding to the Oakville Arena. The running of Centennial Arena, then, would fall solely to the user groups and the city. That cost is not an option right now.

Has the city been completely forthcoming about expenditures and budgets relating to the PCU Centre? No, it hasn’t. Has the city made all the right decisions when it comes to the PCU Centre? No, it hasn’t. Regardless of what one thinks of the PCU Centre, one thing is clear. The money is spent — a fact the community needs to accept.

Tara Seel is the city editor of The Daily Graphic.

http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2154744