Rimbey town council wants to be sure its recreation reserves are well cushioned for the future.
At its regular meeting May 28, council unanimously agreed to put $200,000 into recreation reserves.
Mayor Sheldon Ibbotson supports keeping the reserves well stocked to be prepared for future expenditures.
He noted that council has agreed to have a recreation master plan completed and he wants to be sure there is some funding in place to cover possible costs.
“We have to wait and see what the priorities are. For instance if trails are given a priority, it costs $100,000 a kilometre to build a trail. Where is that money going to come from?”
While Ibbotson notes that recreation doesn’t head the list of financial priorities for the town, it is certainly an area that needs to be given some backing.
“Recreation doesn’t receive the bulk of our funds, but I want to be sure some money is set aside for it.”
The mayor noted the money that has been put into recreation reserves can be withdrawn and used for other purposes should the need arise.
Rimbey CAO Tony Goode said the money was taken from unspecified reserves which totals $1,272,000.
“These are reserve funds and not part of the budget,” he said. “The (recreation) master plan is not expected to be completed until the end of the year, at which time recommendations would be made,” he added.
By Treena Mielke