YORKTON - At the regular meeting of Yorkton Council July 8, the long-talked about upgrades to the Kinsmen Arena were once more front and centre.
The Kinsmen Arena has become almost Council’s never-ending story in the sense it has been known for years there were shortcomings at the facility, but how best to address the issues was hardly clear cut.
There was never any real doubt that a city Yorkton’s size, given the relative importance of hockey to the community, needed the second ice surface.
So the question was whether you invested in repairs and upgrades to a building which remains a predominantly an aged building, or opt for new. The latter option opening the door to potentially twinning a new structure with the Westland Insurance Arena and creating synergies impossible with two arenas in different locales in the city.
Council chose the repair route, but even that has been a protracted process.
The need for the work has been known for years, as was pointed out by Taylor Morrison, Director of Recreation & Community Services with the city at the July 8, meeting of Council. He noted it was at the Nov. 15, 2021 Council meeting, Council was presented a report on the condition of both the Kinsmen Arena and Westland Arena ice systems, in which both needed significant improvements.
The 2022 and 2023 capital budget included two ice system projects, one for the Westland Arena ice plant upgrade at a cost of $1,085,000 and one for the Kinsmen at a cost of $2,775,000.
The Westland work has been undertaken.
The Kinsmen project has yet to start, and not particularly surprising costs have risen.
As construction and project costs continue to rise, and after reviewing similar projects that had recently been completed, Administration proposed an increase to the Kinsmen Arena project in the 2024 capital budget. An additional $725,000.00 from the 2025 capital budget was approved giving a total project budget of $3,500,000.00, explained Morrison.
In May the project went to tender with three bids received, the lowest from PCL Construction Management Inc, for $4,110,786.
Now the city is fortunate that when the Gallagher Centre project levy was complete, Council of the day simply re-purposed the levy to be use for recreation projects, so with the increase the Recreation Levy would be allocated through 2030, becoming available for the 2031 budget cycle. It’s a tidy way to keep the Kinsmen project on track.
But, Council balked at the meeting, with the majority opting to have Administration see if they could pare back costs – with a particular eye to some small cosmetic additions such as new netting and sound system.
While you can appreciate chasing pennies when property taxes are increasing annually, but one is also reminded how it’s suggested if you move into a new house before it’s complete the baseboards and mouldings might never be installed.
Capital costs are typically wise expenditures in the sense that when you wait to do work that ultimately must be done costs are almost assured to rise – or simply go undone.
If Administration can trim $400K or $500K, that would warrant Council second thought. If not, well the funds exist to pay the added money from a levy specific to the purpose, so moving forward with better sound, protective netting and other little additions would seem to be the way to go.
