The need for funding and some online finger-pointing is causing a lot of anxiety for people who use the Sackville Community Arena.
A social media post says the rink won’t put down ice for the upcoming hockey season because it is waiting on financial help from the city.
The post had more than 500 comments and nearly 800 shares as of 1 p.m. Wednesday.
The not-for-profit Lake District Recreation Association (LDRA) operates the rink.
According to an email from Laura Wright, a spokesperson for the City of Halifax, the rink association and the city had an agreement. For five years the city gave $50,000 a year to the rink, but that agreement expired this year.
Wright said that the city got no reply from the arena association before that agreement expired. However, since then the municipality has been “working with the LDRA to provide funding for the organization,” she wrote.
Lower Sackville councillor Paul Russell said the city is currently working with the LDRA to provide some funding for the ice, but the decision to not put ice in comes from the arena association, according to a social media post.
A sign says the Sackville Community Arena is operated by the Lake District Recreation Association on Aug. 6, 2024. (Scott Pettigrew/Acadia Broadcasting)
Allan Smith, president of the LDRA, said he was frustrated that the process to get a new agreement was taking too long. That’s why he posted on the rink’s Facebook page, saying there would be no ice this coming season.
Smith said the Parks and Recreation Department with the city gave the impression that they would start working on a new agreement in June, but pushed the timeline back several times.
“You trust them. You believe them. And when they delay it, and delay it, and delay it, at some point you say, ‘Well, I have no trust.'”
He hoped a new agreement would get the rink $100,000 a year, Smith said.
City to provide funding
Although the city said the LDRA didn’t contact them before the agreement expired, Smith said that’s because he was communicating primarily with councillor Russell.
Smith also said he emailed Russell in January.
But councillor Russell says he has no record of that email and doesn’t think he received it.
He got the email in March, when Smith forwarded it to him after not receiving a response. By then it was too late to get funding for the rink in the 2024/25 budget.
Russell says he brought the motion to create a new funding agreement to council in May, and they talked about it again in June.
But that will only get the rink funding for the 2025/26 year and beyond, Russell said.
Because the request for a new funding agreement didn’t make it to council for the 2024/25 budget, the council would have to spend money outside of its budget.
That requires additional time for a staff report, he said.
“We had to make sure that if we’re going to spend unbudgeted money on a thing that there’s good justification for the thing. Doesn’t matter what it is. If it’s flower beds or new car tires or or giving $50,000 to the arena,” he said.
He said the staff report is just about ready and should go to council on August 20.
Russell said he told Smith he was nearly ready but wouldn’t appear on Tuesday at the city council meeting.
Then Smith made the post on the arena’s social media page.
“It’s an important issue. There’s no question. But my reaction was simply to make sure that everybody understood what the history of this was and what we have already done, what we already have in place to take care of this going forward.”
However, he says there will absolutely be funding for the rink.
What the LDRA does with it is up to them, but the city will provide it, said Russell.
Minor hockey group supports council
Rob Nurnber, president of the Sackville Minor Hockey Association, asked people to be patient on this issue.
“I know the parties involved are looking to take steps so this does not happen. This includes myself and other board members,” Nurnber wrote on social media.
“The arena is the heart of our community and brings so much more to our families than just the on ice part. Our municipal representatives are well aware of this and have shown great support in the past and I am very confident they will continue to do so and support our community, most importantly our children,” wrote Nurnber.
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