The Revelstoke Visitor’s Centre is requesting an increase in funding from the city.
At the moment the city contributes $90,000 a year toward visitor servicing and tourism marketing which is used for marketing and summer employment wages, said Guylaine St-Gelais, the information centre manager, in a letter to council.
“Our primary concern is the increase in minimum wage and inflation in our city and province,” St-Gelais said in the letter. “As you are aware, the B.C. government is increasing minimum wage by 20 per cent by 2021 to $15.20. This increases our payroll cost by at least 20 per cent by 2021 to ensure we pay our staff a fair wage as front-line representatives of Revelstoke.”
St-Gelais reported a 43 per cent increase in visitors since 2015, much of which has been in the shoulder season. Those increases as well as an upturn in demand for online visitor services mean more staff are needed at the centre year round.
“With these pressures, we estimate we will need at least one extra year-round full time employee and two more full time seasonal employees by 2021,” St-Gelais said in the letter.
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The visitor centre is operated through the Chamber of Commerce and funded by the city, the Revelstoke Accommodation Association and previously, grant money from various contributors.
According to the letter the association has increased contributions by 400 per cent in the last four years, while the city has not increased their contribution.
Though the centre has been successful in building the retail store but all revenues have been put back into the store to further it’s growth.
The letter was on the council agenda March 26 and was passed on the Community Economic Development to work with the centre and fine alternative funding.
“I don’t support the increase,” said councillor Jackie Rhind. “I do absolutely appreciate the work that they do and I think it is a very valuable service but I am curious to see if there are other ways that RAA can increase the amount of their contributions so the city doesn’t have to. I think it is difficult for taxpayers who are seeing the cost of living going up to justify spending some of their money to help increase tourism which propagates the problem.”
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Councillor Cody Younker said he thought it was a good time to rethink the funding model for the centre.
“I sit on that committee and they do a lot of good but I think we need to re-look at the entire thing and how funding is coming because there is a lot of misbeliefs and misunderstandings and there is opportunity to restructure there I think,” he said.
Mayor Gary Sulz said that all of those conversations could be had with economic development, which is where the letter was referred to.
St-Gelais acknowledged that the city budget for 2019 was almost complete, but asked that her request be considered for next year’s budget deliberations.
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