The board of the Nipawin Business Improvement District has declined a funding offer from the town and is planning to resign from their positions en emasse.
The town offered $30,000 in cash and $20,000 worth of services, including – office space, utilities, phones and building insurance. In 2017, the district received around $105,000.
“Our board met and considered it and our biggest concern is with that amount of money, we’re not set up for success,” said Tom Weegar, the district’s chair. “We’ve respectfully declined the offer and we’re likely looking at turning our society over to the town of Nipawin and they can carry that direction themselves.”
The board met Dec. 13.
The chair said with the $30,000 given, $14,650 would go into paying fixed costs. As for the remaining $15,530, due to a contract with the province’s Main Street program, the district is required to have a co-ordinator working for 20 hours per week. Weegar said with the money they’d have available, they could pay a co-ordinator $14.14 per hour for 17.5 hours per week. He added the board was also concerned as to who would supervise the position without an executive director.
The district asked for $117,000 from the town.
“What we wanted to do was hire two positions: a full-time executive director and then a support person as well that would help with some of the side projects: the marketing, the connecting with businesses, that sort of thing,” Weegar said.
The district has only a few days to make any decisions, as the current executive director is leaving Dec. 22 for another job and then it will be left with less funding and no staff support.
“The board has said that likely once we’ve made all of our decisions and wrapped things up and we make the final motion, most of us will offer a letter of resignation,” Weegar said.
Barry Elliott, the town’s administrator, said the town has examined a series of proposals from many local organizations and it has chosen to give many less than they asked for – and have even rejected a few.
“I know that this council – as every council seems every year – is challenged significantly with keeping the budget in check and accommodating the entire community as best they can with services. This was no different.”
While the district went through the town’s new fee-for-service process, Elliott said they considered separately from the other fee-for-service applicants.
As for why council has chosen not to activate the district’s ability to charge every business property owner a levy, Elliott said they wanted the district to show them that 80 per cent of businesses supported the move.
“Council, earlier this year, had requested that the BID provide confirmation that they had the support of business for their on-going activities,” he said. “There has not been any information provided to council other than verbal confirmation that they have significant amount of support.”
As for any mass resignations, Elliott said council will have to decide what they would do with the district if and when that happens.
Weegar said the loss of the district as it is currently constituted could mean increased costs from the town and a loss of 20 to 25 volunteers.
“We actually got from the town what we wanted. We asked them to put their money where their mouth is, to tell us what our budget was going to be and they let it know,” he said. “Regrettably, it was much less than what we’re asking for and regrettably, it’s well below an amount that will let us be successful at what we’d like to do.”
More to come...
