Shutdowns wreak havoc with community centre finances

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This article was published 05/03/2021 (2032 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE financial outlook for Winnipeg community clubs looks grim after two major pandemic shutdowns caused revenues to plummet.

Michele Augert, chief executive officer of the Dakota Community Centre, said her facility has endured two lengthy shutdowns due to public health orders, with closures from mid-March to early June and late October to mid-February.

Due to further pandemic limits, major revenue sources, which include sports tournaments and hall rentals, were largely off-limits for large centres throughout the year, even when facilities were open, Augert noted.

“There’s no way that we are going to be able to recover what we have lost in the last year,” she said. “I can’t see posting anything outside of a loss.”

Augert said Dakota usually has $4 million to $5 million in annual revenue. It expects a decrease of 80 per cent to 90 per cent for the current fiscal year, once all pandemic losses are factored in. She said the centre gratefully used all federal, provincial and city COVID-19 supports, but will still fall short.

While Dakota looks forward to allowing more teams to start practising, beginning Saturday, and expects some improvement soon, Augert noted a full recovery will take time.

“We are nowhere near back to normal,” she said.

Cindy Fox, acting executive director of the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres, said all larger community centres will face significant revenue losses.

“There’s no doubt that the community centres with arenas, indoor soccer, indoor field houses are especially hurting because they count on revenues, in most cases there are mortgages involved… I think it’s safe to say that those community centres with those amenities have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Fox.

She said the losses have forced some centres to dip into reserve funds and/or lay off staff.

“They’ve had to take some pretty drastic measures to keep running,” said Fox.

She noted some smaller community centres, however, could see a financial gain, since complete shutdowns greatly reduced their expenses.

Coun. Markus Chambers wants the city to help city-owned community centres recover from the financial fallout. In a motion, he calls for the city to work with the general council on an economic recovery plan.

Chambers said the plan should offer a mechanism to help centres restore programs that were interrupted by the pandemic.

“(COVID-19) had quite a large impact on their cash flow… they’ve had to suspend and/or cancel a lot of their programs and activities,” said Chambers.

The councillor said the city should help the centres resume recreation services, which he believes are key to improving the well-being of Winnipeggers.

“We’re going to be looking towards our community centres to provide these recreational activities and, I would say, distractions from what we’ve been dealing with over this past year. People need to address their physical health and well-being (and) … enjoy the best parts of our neighbourhoods,” said Chambers.

Council’s protection, community services and parks committee will vote on the recovery plan motion on March 10.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga