Council giveth and council taketh away.
Just ask the Pictou County Jr. A Weeks Crushers.
The Municipality of County of Pictou voted in favour during its last financial committee meeting to allot a $1,000 municipal grant to the local Jr. A hockey team toward its operating expenses.
The Weeks hockey organization recently approached all the municipal units asking for sponsorship to help offset operating costs that have risen steadily over the years.
After some debate during the Oct. 19 meeting, county councillors recommended to council that the county give the Weeks Jr. A Crushers $1,000 in sponsorship money. The motion was accepted in a vote of 10 for and three against.
However, when it came to council for final approval Monday, Coun. Peter Boyles put a motion on the table that it be amended so that it didn’t include the $1,000 for the Crushers.
Instead, the municipal grants approved would include $15,000 operating grant for the Hector Arena, $75 for Hopewell 4H, $75 for the Hopewell and Area park and footbridge committee as well as $400 for the PC Subway Selects travel expenses to the Wickenheiser tournament for a total of $15,550.
Boyles said he opposed the $1,000 at the committee level and has received phone calls from his constituents upset that a “private organization” is receiving the money from the county.
He said he spoke with someone who told him only about 500 people attend games and the hockey organization makes its attendance numbers seem larger by including season ticket holders who may or may not attend the games on a regular basis.
“The other travelling teams that are coming in there, they are not getting big crowds from other places to come in,” he said. “Maybe at the championship or the end of the year, but not for a regular game. We have people that can’t afford to turn around and go watch a hockey game in our districts but yet we are going to turn around and give $1,000. The coach makes $75,000 a year.”
Coun. Ron Baillie told council that the Jr. A Crushers are not a private club and anyone who is good enough and in the age group can make the team.
“These guys are ambassadors for Pictou County. When they leave here that is what they are carrying on their shirts,” he said. “We are funding all kinds of sports teams with grants. It is no different for these guys and they are travelling the whole Maritime provinces. To me, a thousand dollars for ambassadors for our county is not very much money.”
Coun. Andy Thompson, who originally put the $1,000 motion on the table in October, agreed with Baillie saying these aren’t professional hockey players but 18- and 19-year-old “kids” who are representing Pictou County.
He said council has granted funding to other community groups such as the Pictou County Lobster Carnival boat races and the New Glasgow Music Jubilee, which draw people to the area.
“Eight hundred to a thousand people get out of their house and go to a hockey game,” he said. “What is wrong with that in Canada?”
However, Coun. David Parker said he also received phone calls from constituents opposed to the $1,000 grant.
“I had several phone calls from people upset. They way they see it is we contribute annually to the deficit of the Wellness Centre. One guy brought up the Crushers advertising deal. The advertising deal the Crushers has takes money out of the Wellness Centre and leaves the taxpayer to make it up,” he said.
Parker also added that no financial statements were provided to council to determine if $1,000 was actually needed by the hockey organization.
“I have had several calls and they convinced me it was not a good thing for my district,” he said.
In the end, council voted 7 to 5 in favour of passing the amended municipal grant funding without the $1,000 funding for the Crushers, but this wasn’t the end of the debate.
“I can’t believe we took $1,000 off the table here,” said Coun. Randy Palmer, asking councillors what changed their minds. “They are a big part of the community.”
Palmer said if two-thirds of his constituents contacted him concerned about the grant, he would have considered giving it more thought, but he questioned if councillors thought about the people in their areas who support the Crushers, but didn’t phone them.
Coun. Debbi Wadden echoed Palmer’s comments by saying the Jr. A Crushers are role models for youths in the local community who participate in food bank drives and other events.
“We are trying to keep something for our kids here,” she said. “It breaks my heart. I can’t believe we sunk this low.”
Cold hard facts:
• The Jr. A hockey club runs on a budget of between $300,000 and $425,000 a year and last year it ran a deficit of about $25,000.
• The Weeks Major Midgets, which is also part of the Weeks hockey organization, has a budget of $150,000 to $200,000, but players pay registration fees to help cover the costs.
- A registration fee is not an option for Jr. A players so money is raised through ticket sales, season passes and sponsorship that haven’t really increased in price since the team first took to the ice in 2004.
• The Jr. A Crushers estimate ticket sales, between season passes and the door, average between 840-950 during the regular season each Thursday night and up to 1,100 in playoffs.
• The Town of New Glasgow recently approved $7500 in sponsorship that will allow its logo to be placed on all of the jerseys.
