County council will consider a request for $5,000 as part of proposed $20,000 functional use study at the deCoste Entertainment Centre in Pictou.
Warden Ronald Baillie said council would discuss the request during its monthly committee-of-the-whole meeting Nov. 23, with a view to consider recommending approval at its next regular monthly meeting Dec. 7.
“I think they realize the deCoste can be used for other purposes, which is great,” said Pictou Mayor Joe Hawes.
Hawes, a Town of Pictou representative on the deCoste Centre’s board, attended county council’s financial services committee meeting Nov. 16 for a presentation by board member Joel Sellers and town CAO Scott Conrod.
The board received approval from ACOA for $10,000 to help pay for the study. The money is contingent on the board receiving $5,000 each from the county and the town of Pictou and contains a sunset clause for the money to be in place by December.
In his presentation, Sellers said the deCoste reflects a report by the Conference Board of Canada that indicates Canada’s culture industry adds $1.84 to the country’s overall gross domestic product for every dollar of value-added GDP it produces.
In past years, the town of Pictou covered the centre’s annual deficit, then provided an annual operating grant of $45,000 from 2005 to 2007 while assuming the remaining deficit.
For the last three years, the town has provided the grant but has not covered deficits.
Sellers said a membership drive and fundraising has helped the centre meet its shortfall.
“We do significant fundraising,” he said.
“We hope to reduce our reliance on fundraising.”
Using a pie chart, Sellers said more than half the centre’s members reside in rural Pictou County, while nearly 19 per cent of its members are from Pictou and more than 15 per cent are from New Glasgow.
“I don’t think the facility is utilized as much as it could be,” said Pictou Deputy Mayor Ken Johnston in response to Councillor Leonard Fraser’s question about how much the centre is used.
Sellers said centre staff is busy through the day working as ticket agents. He added the centre has no kitchen, which means caterers must bring their own equipment to prepare meals for functions like the annual Pictou County Chamber of Commerce awards gala slated for Nov. 26.
Conrod outlined the financial challenges facing Pictou that were contained in the centre’s report.
They include $311 per year each of Pictou’s taxpayers will need to absorb to pay for the capital and operating costs of the town’s waste water treatment plant, using the assumed number of 1,334 connected users.
Pictou had the second highest second highest commercial tax rate among Pictou County’s six municipalities, and the fifth highest in the province, while enduring the highest residential tax burden in the county, Conrod added.