Look Before You Leap, then Look Again
You may have heard last week that a trip is being planned for city council and some administration to check out the new Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw. This trip was suggested by the board of the Raiders, who would like to see a new arena to replace the Art Hauser Centre.
I have a few thoughts about this whole idea. Starting to gather information at early stages, which everyone agrees we're at, is certainly a good idea. And checking with a community of similar size which has recently gone through the process is also a good idea. But there are far more things that we need to consider before we decide that this should be part of a ten year plan for the city – 10 years is not a very long time, and we have more urgent, basic needs that have been neglected for too long.
I know that there's a certain excitement and energy to special projects that just doesn't happen with the regular, boring, infrastructure maintenance stuff. The city has an enviable history of residents getting together to fund the construction of such things as the original Comuniplex, the Kinsmen water slides, the Rawlinson Centre, and the soccer centre. And it's less than ten years ago that the Bring Back the Magic campaign put $5 million into upgrades that resulted in the Comuniplex being refurbished and renamed the Art Hauser Centre. These facilities all provide benefits to the city, its residents, and the surrounding area. They also each have added significantly to the city budget, and the costs to the city to keep them operating increase every year.
I think that before we even consider adding yet another city-owned facility to the more than 100 that we already are responsible for, we need to review the current state of all our facilities. We need to know their operating costs, the level of usage, and the revenues. We need to know their projected life span, and what sort of maintenance is required on an ongoing basis. And we need to decide if we can afford all the facilities that we currently own. Some difficult decisions may need to be made, because we have to realize that, even though the city may have carried the costs in the past, it's no longer practical or fair for some facilities to be subsidized to the extent that they have been.