Council has postponed a decision on whether to suspend operating and community capital grants.
At Monday's council meeting, Dynamix Gymnastics Club past-president Cathy Schwer described to councillors how these grant suspensions could affect their plans for a new facility. Councillors were considering suspending $250,000 in capital grants and $153,900 in operating grants.
Schwer, the new building chair for Dynamyx, said the not-for-profit had applied for a community capital grant to match up to a third of contributions for their new building in Campbell Business Park.
Losing those funds would put the gymnastics club and other organizations in a "very vulnerable position," Schwer said.
"I've come to this table far too many times on behalf of Dynamyx Gymnastics Club seeking support to assist in providing an improved facility and expanded opportunity for our community for the sport of gymnastics," Schwer said. "Far too often, the answer has been no."
Coun. Natalie Joly made the motion to postpone the decision by two weeks, which passed 4-2 (Coun. Ken MacKay and Coun. Sheena Hughes opposed, Coun. Jacquie Hansen absent).
"The organizations that already applied (for the capital grant) only found out on Friday afternoon, so it's great that Dynamyx was able to get their board together and put together a response with three days notice, but the other boards... that's really challenging," Joly said.
"This will just give a little more time for the public to become aware that this is something we're discussing."
When Dynamyx applied for the grant in February, Schwer said they were hopeful they could use the funds to build out a reserve to use when moving into the new 24,512-sqare-foot facility. This grant is even more important to the organization now because of the pandemic, she said.
"With no revenue coming in since mid-March and accessing any and all government supports, our expenses are exceeding our ability to keep any savings in a position to progress," Schwer said.
"Cancelling this grant will be detrimental to our financial position going forward."
Mayor Cathy Heron said council did not know of any pending applications for the community capital grant, noting her support to postpone the decision.
"That would give us an opportunity to see what the interest is," Heron said.
Demand for community capital was oversubscribed even before the pandemic, according to city staff.
Anna Royer, senior advisor of grants and partnerships with recreation and parks, confirmed the entire $250,000 budgeted for community capital was allocated by March. In total, more than $400,000 was requested from eight community organizations, she said.
"I did have groups that didn't even apply this year because they knew so many others were coming forward," Royer said.
Coun. Sheena Hughes voted against the motion, arguing the two-week delay could actually push the timelines of some projects back further. A decision should be made now so applicants can start making preparations, she said.
Coun. MacKay voted against as well, questioning whether the motion simply delayed "the inevitable."
Heron said she is open to discussions around whether the $250,000 could be reduced instead of cancelled altogether.
Council will revisit this discussion on June 29.
Extending credit limit
Council passed the first reading of a borrowing bylaw to extend the city's operating credit line from $5 million to $20 million.
Coun. Ken MacKay, who has been vocal about managing the city's debt in the past, said the new $20-million limit is reasonable for a municipality of St. Albert's size.
Given the city's projected 2020 deficit from the COVID-19 pandemic is around $7 million, the $5-million credit limit was simply not enough in the event of an unexpected crisis situation.
"It's just really something that is there in case we really need to access it," MacKay said. "We didn't use it in the pandemic, so it's our last line of defence."
The city will have time to gather potential feedback on the credit extension before the bylaw comes back for second and third reading.
MacKay said he doesn't expect fiscal policies around this bylaw to change too much from the norm, but recognized the importance of making sure the policy clearly states how the line of credit will be accessed and how the city would repay it given the new extension.
"I'm always concerned about debt and credit, I'd rather pay as I go. But saying that, we're just coming out of a pandemic, something where we don't have a playbook. Having reserves accessible or a line of credit are solid strategies for our city," MacKay said.
