Dust off your abacuses, folks – it’s local government budget time!
You’re going to see a lot of stories with a lot of potentially mind-numbing numbers over the next three weeks.
There will be tough decisions made about which projects and programs get a share of our tax dollars amidst the difficult balancing act needed to make sure we don’t have to part with too many of those tax dollars.
A lot of that money goes to recreation facilities and parks. Recreation and cultural services get the biggest share of the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s operating budget, for example – roughly 30 per cent of the $37.8 million in total spending.
You’ve probably noticed that “community hub” is a trendy term these days, and as far as I’m concerned, recreation facilities are a constant reminder of a good use of public dollars to create those hubs.
I’m old enough to remember when we got our first ice hockey arena in 1974, and how everyone seemed to be there all the time, as well as the opening of the Gibsons Winter Club (now the Gibsons Curling Club) a couple of years later.
The public pool in Gibsons came along in the ’70s as well.
But it wasn’t until I moved to Kingston, Ont. for university that I started to appreciate the idea of recreation facilities as a place for the community to come together.
Kingston was where I encountered my first city-maintained outdoor rinks. Watching the neighbourhood turn out for a little pick-up hockey under the lights was a real eye-opener, and about the only time we ever intermingled with our non-student neighbours.
When I returned home in 2006, the Field of Dreams in Gibsons was a going concern, and we were in the thick of building the new aquatic centre in Sechelt and the Gibsons and Area Community Centre (GACC), seemingly putting the contentious referendums around recreation facilities behind us.
I’ve seen GACC host a provincial midget hockey championship in 2016, and I had a blast as MC when Olympian Elvis Stojko skated there last year. The rink was full for both events.
Just this week, working on a story about men’s fastball losing the use of Hackett Park in Sechelt (page 43), I was reminded about how much importance people put on the places they play and the impact seeing them well used can have on the neighbourhood and the community.
We’ve talked a lot on the Sunshine Coast about the need to attract and retain young families. Jobs are part of that equation, but good recreation facilities are another key variable.
I’m sure we’ll still have budget fights around recreation – just look at the debates on replacing the hot tub at the Gibsons and District Aquatic facility, which finally reopened on Tuesday – but I also see more and more signs that it’s one line item most taxpayers can see the value in.
