Lacombe county
Lacombe County councillors disagreed whether Alix’s Moonwalkers qualifies for their financial support for its more than $120,000 operating deficit in 2015.
County council, however, at its Jan. 14 regular meeting, unanimously voted in favour of deferring their decision until Alix can provide more information.
“They are funding the entire deficit through taxation,” said Tim Timmonds, Lacombe County’s manager of corporate services.
County Coun. Ken Wigmore said he was against helping fund Moonwalkers operating deficit.
“I struggle with this. This was really started as a commercial venture. I don’t think we were any part of the discussions until there is a funding shortfall. Then they are knocking at the door looking for money.
“Had they been successful in the commercial venture of it they probably would have been alright,” he added. “I think they started it to be a little bit of a tourist attraction. I’m a little leery to even open this door because if we start down this road where does it end? What other commercial venture are we going to get into in the rest of the municipality? It’s a playground. We don’t support playgrounds within communities, only those in the county, therefore I have a little difficulty supporting this.”
Likewise, Coun. Dana Kriel said she was struggling with approving funding of Moonwalkers’ deficit.
And Coun. Barb Shepherd also wasn’t in favour of supporting Moonwalkers’ deficit.
“I think Moonwalkers was originally started as a business. It was a business in Red Deer that was unsuccessful. I think Alix made the decision to purchase the business and the fact that it’s not profitable I think Alix has a decision to make. Either they are going to fund it on a deficit basis or it’s going to fail and I don’t think the county should be in the business of keeping failing businesses alive so I’m definitely not in favour of supporting it.”
Lacombe County Commissioner Terry Hager told council that administration struggled with the issue as well.
“We do know that the Abbey Centre in Blackfalds also has an indoor playground and we do fund that as part of the overall project that we share in the deficit of that facility. That weighed in our thinking when we thought what should we do here.”
Administration recommended to Lacombe County council that the county provide Moonwalkers with 10 per cent of the $52,000 operating deficit, excluding the $68,000 lease costs. This would mean a $5,000 contribution from Lacombe County.
Coun. Rod McDermand was in favour of the county helping fund Moonwalkers’ deficit comparing Moonwalkers to the indoor playground at Blackfalds’ Abbey Centre.
“This is no different than the function that the Abbey Centre provides,” said Coun. McDermand. “For us to deny it is wrong. We need to be fair across the county.”
Lacombe County’s policy allows council to support playgrounds in the county but not the playgrounds that are in municipalities within the county. Council, however, can override that policy because of an overriding clause.
Coun. Brenda McKnight pointed out that the county helps fund spray parks in municipalities.
Coun. Keith Stephenson asked whether Alix got into Moonwalkers as a commercial business or is it identified as recreation for the village.
“To me it does fit in with our recreation plan as a playground,” he said.
Coun. Wigmore maintained Moonwalkers is in a commercial building that is part of an incubator business type venture.
“We don’t get into those and if you want to compare it to the Abbey Centre true enough. It (Abbey Centre indoor playground) doesn’t stand alone. It’s part of the building that falls with the swimming pool and everything else. We were involved in the Abbey Centre from the beginning and the concept.
“I just have a lot of difficulty when someone decides to build something and then send us the bill,” added Coun. Wigmore. “The way I see it, after you have been (to Moonwalkers) two or three times, it becomes old hat and people don’t come back. I think the deficit is just going to start climbing from here. They have a fairly big staff there. I just have difficulty with it so I’m not in favour of supporting it.”
Moonwalkers employs eight people, three full time and five part time, including students.
In 2012 Alix came up with the idea of a community activity centre plus business incubator project. The project is a private-public partnership between the Village of Alix and Creative Infrastructure from Wetaskiwin.
Alix didn’t have to pay for the development up front. But rather, the private company paid for its construction and then leased back the space to the village for 20 years, after which time Alix can buy back the building for $1 if they choose.
The facility is the home of Alix’s FCSS, the recreation department and Moonwalkers. In addition, the facility is available to local businesses to lease as part of Alix’s incubator project where local businesses, that are just starting up or expanding, get a reduced rent for a negotiated length of time to give them a stable location.
Coun. Kriel said she would like to see better financial documents from the Village of Alix on Moonwalkers.
“As I was looking through the financial stuff in here it is really hard to glean what the losses are,” she said. “They are a little hard to read.”
Council unanimously agreed to defer the item for time to think, to get more detailed financial information from Alix, and for clearer details on how many of Moonwalkers’ users are from Lacombe County.
“I think it’s a wonderful facility and we (county) support recreation and youth and health,” said Coun. McKnight.
