Town contributes a couple million to Strathmore Motor Products Sports Centre

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Strathmore is footing a sizable bill for additional expenses and previously excluded exterior component costs associated with the Strathmore Motor Products Sports Centre, with hopes of recuperating some costs in the future.
Strathmore town council approved $1.5 million for items including gymnasium and track flooring, sports fields, parking lot paving, air conditioning, gymnasium equipment and signage. Council also agreed to spend $362,000 on lacrosse boards, turf flooring, bleachers and scoreboard nets, while also fronting $340,000 for the yet-to-be-constructed access road. The access road is the responsibility of the developer owning the adjacent lands, and is money that will be recuperated at a later date.
In total, the town is committing just over $2.2 million, with funds coming from the Alberta Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding, the Town of Strathmore Field House Reserve, and a borrowing bylaw that was brought before council to receive approval at this week’s regular council meeting (the Strathmore Times went to press before the meeting took place on July 18).
The majority of the newly-funded items were removed from the original $10 million budget. Various other needs were also identified once construction began, such as storm pond relocation, an emergency generator and costs related to climate conditions.
“They were taken out in order to arrive at the original budget, but the idea was that some of the funding for me of those things come from either sponsorships or user groups from the community,” said Mel Tiede, director of corporate services for the Town of Strathmore.
“In the case of sponsorships, the sponsorships will be paid over a number of years so we have to fund it originally and then recover some of those sponsorship dollars over the time period the sponsor arranges. We’ll recover a portion of it down the road.”
The Town of Strathmore, Wheatland County, Golden Hills School Division and the Alberta government joined in partnership for the creation of the regional recreation facility – Strathmore Motor Products Sports Centre – and the George Freeman K-9 Public School.
Strathmore originally contributed $5 million to the project, while Wheatland County allocated $3 million and Golden Hills School Division provided the remaining $2 million.
When the topic was raised at the July 11 Committee of the Whole meeting, Councillor Lorraine Bauer inquired as to whether the other partners would consider pitching in. However, council was told Wheatland County limited their funding to $3 million and the funding was outlined in the original memorandum of understanding.
Town council unanimously agreed to allocate $1,575,728 from the 2018 Alberta MSI Grant Funding, approve $362,000 from the Town of Strathmore Field House Reserve and to borrow $340,000 to pay for the access road.
The facility is expected to meet their expected completion date in accordance with the start of school.