I thought I would share some facts about the TRP and Library since the Warfield Mayor and Council seem to be avoiding getting the facts and giving the facts.
The TRP costs the village $74,446 per year which is $43.80 per resident of Warfield (1,700 residents based on 2011 stats Canada data). I contacted the library and found out that there are 545 Library cards issued to Village of Warfield residents. If you want to get a new card it now costs $75 and if you already have one, you will have to pay $75 upon your next use.
For the village to reimburse the 545 villagers it will cost $40,875. This is $8,275 more than the Village currently pays, which is $32,600.
Where are the savings in that? The way they will find their savings is by not reimbursing all of the cards and thus downloading the cost onto the citizens.
On the recreation side, I contacted the City of Trail and they provided me with up-to-date numbers on active TRP cards. There are 1,276 cards issued to Warfield residents, which represents 75 per cent of the population.
The 2013 Recreation Master Plan (found at trail.ca) calculates 103,586 visits to the aquatic centre per year and says on Page 23 of the study that the “consultants have never seen indoor pool use of more than 10 times the population of a community” and goes on to say that “non-City residents likely make up at least half the existing swims at TALC.”
With 75 per cent of Warfield’s population using the aquatic centre there is little argument that Warfield is not getting value for the cost of the TRP.
The recreation master plan also shows that the TALC is functioning as designed, which was for regional use.
The facts are there, the value is there. It’s time for Warfield Mayor and Council to see them.
Mark StephensWarfield