Rossland city council has reached a one-year agreement with the Rossland Curling Club to let them continue to run programs and events at the arena.
As part of the agreement, the club will now have to pay five per cent more for their arena lease at a cost of almost $22,000.
Mayor Kathy Moore said the agreement didn’t sit well with everyone.
“Historically, the curling club had a multi-year contract to use the facility and their rates were really low,” said mayor Kathy Moore.
“When the agreement went up for renewal, many members were arguing that they shouldn’t face any fee increase due to financial impacts brought on by COVID-19.”
City council determined that keeping the curling club’s lease rate the same wouldn’t be fair, especially since hockey and ice skating groups recently faced substantial increases to their fees to use the ice.
While the lease agreement helps the city cover a small portion of the costs to operate the curling area, taxpayers were still on the hook for $113,000 in 2019 to subsidize their operating costs.
In comparison to figure skating and hockey groups at the arena, taxpayers only had to pay $56,853 in 2019 to subsidize their operating costs.
City council hopes they can establish a longer multi-year agreement with the curling club to use the arena before the one-year agreement expires.
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