Rocky View County (RVC) council approved funding requests to support capital projects within the Bragg Creek area through the Rocky View West Recreation District Board.
Emergency funding of up to $75,000 was approved for the Bragg Creek Community Association to repair and restore the community centre’s sprinkler system, which froze and split in January. According to administration’s report, when the system is once again compliant with fire code regulations, the association will proceed with renovations to get the facility operational.
The Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association will receive $50,000 for Phase 2 and 3 of their project, after RVC staff identified safety issues which required a change to the original plans.
According to Pauli Kruger with RVC’s recreation and services department, new engineering studies and surveys are needed to accommodate the altered route, which will require additional funding.
Chestermere recreation
Council also voted unanimously to continue to provide financial support for recreation services in the Conrich/Chestermere area, despite the City of Chestermere’s termination of the Intermunicipal Cost Sharing Agreement on Dec. 3, 2014.
A request from the Chestermere Conrich District Regional Recreation Board was approved to release $30,000 to the City of Chestermere as signing authority for the board.
The funding was budgeted under the terminated Intermunicipal Cost Sharing Agreement.
“This impacted local services by ending any County requirement to mutually fund recreation services in the Chestermere Conrich region,” said RVC Recreation and Community Services Manager Corwin McCullagh. “Without an active agreement the annual County contribution is in hiatus, which places the District Board in an untenable situation financially to fund this year’s grant application intake.”
According to McCullagh, the board chair has provided assurances the funds will be used appropriately by grant applicants, and noted there have been no issues with the use of funds in the past. RVC will maintain the funding, service levels and access to recreation for 2016.
“I think in the spirit of municipal co-operation that (RVC) has always had, we should approve this,” said Councillor Rolly Ashdown. “Even though they’ve decided to take runs at us, we’re not going to reciprocate it.”
Carry forwards
A budget adjustment for Operating and Capital Project carry forwards for the amount of $12,996,200 was unanimously approved by council.
This funding comes from grants, reserve transfers, previous year taxes, and other sources, and will be carried over to the current year’s budget to complete projects that were classified as “in progress” during the 2015 year-end process.
