The decision by Grey Highlands council to expand operating hours at local arenas has turned out to be a popular move.
At its meeting on May 1, council received a staff report updating them about the revenue and costs associated with council’s decision last year to add hours to each arena to ensure they are open seven days a week during the winter season.
The expansion added a total of 370 hours to the municipality’s four arenas in Flesherton, Feversham, Markdale and Rocklyn. Uptake from the public was strong, with a total of 142.5 hours being used up.
The expansion was essentially revenue neutral for the municipality. Staff reported that the extra hours generated $16,812.12 in revenue and cost just over $17,000 in expenses.
“I am so super pleased to see the results of this. This is really good news,” said Coun. Nadia Dubyk. “These are great numbers. This is such a good win for the community, council and staff working together. This is a great example of how we can work together for better results.”
Council unanimously voted in favour of continuing the expansion of hours for the 2024/25 ice time season. The 2024 budget adopted by council included funding for the continuation of the expansion of hours at the arenas.
Coun. Tom Allwood pointed out that the expansion of the hours last year came late in the ice season and took some time to implement as staff had to be trained and was still a big success.
“Given that it was late in the year and the schedules were already in place, we almost broke even,” said Allwood. “Now that our users are aware of the opportunity, this will be a successful program.”
Mayor Paul McQueen said he is looking forward to seeing the results of the expansion after a full ice time season.
“It will be good to see a report back next year in the sense of it being through a full cycle,” he said.
