Powell River Sports Hall of Fame will now have its own city reserve fund.
At the November 4 City of Powell River council meeting, councillors voted unanimously to establish the reserve fund, and to allocate $42,000 from the innovation reserve fund to the newly created reserve.
Finance committee chair councillor George Doubt said this was an initiative to take funds that were in other places, which has been in reserves for many years for the purpose of sports, and putting it into an account that was clearly named the sports hall of fame reserve, so everyone in future would know what that money is in place there for – the continuation of the sports hall of fame.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said this was not new money that the city is committing to this account.
“This is money that is just being moved into a specific account,” said Hathaway. “For people who are concerned thinking we’re taking tax dollars and putting them into this account, this is money that was just in a different account.”
Councillor Jim Palm said the money was originally set aside starting 12 years ago. He said $10,000 a year for four years was put into the fund in order to hopefully spearhead more sports tournaments and events in the community.
“Unfortunately, the appetite wasn’t in favour of that, with aging volunteers in our community, so that money has sat there for a long period of time,” said Palm. “In terms of sports, the sports hall of fame allows us a venue to showcase sports and our history in Powell River, which is a very good thing.”
Doubt reiterated that the funds had been there for a considerable number of years waiting to be appropriately used.
Mayor Dave Formosa said he believed the sports hall of fame induction event created revenue and asked for clarification from Palm.
Palm said the sports hall of fame is hopefully, with the turnout, self-funding to a large degree.
“However, there is quite a large capital cost in creating the cabinet to hold the sports hall of fame, including the lettering, the lighting, and all of the rest of it,” said Palm. “That capital funding, the first time around, the funds were provided by Powell River Community Forest, and we paid for the rest of the event through sponsorships and attendance at our dinner, which people paid for.”
Later at the council meeting, Powell River Community Forest committed $43,000 to the sports hall of fame expansion.
