Despite a groundswell of support from community partners, Rocky Mountain House & District Minor Football Association finds itself over $23,000 short, and is asking the Town of Rocky Mountain House for help.
After a busy year which saw a $400,000 lightning mast project completed at Curtis Field in Rocky Mountain House, officials say the organization finds itself with $297.55 left in the bank account.
Those numbers were from a delegation presentation from Doug Laut, president of the Rocky Mountain House and District Minor Football Association, as well as technical advisor Brad Turner.
The Town of Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County had previously each contributed $56,000 to cover cost overruns such as electrical, engineering, the hiring of a project manager, as well as the ballooning cost of the masts themselves.
The organization is now in the process of asking the town and county to advance 50 per cent of the outstanding cost to get the deficit cleared up, and is hoping it’ll be the final ask.
“We hate going back to the table a third time, so to speak, we’re looking to get this thing put to bed.” say Laut.
Lights at Curtis Field in Rocky Mountain House, Sept. 14, 2024. (Photo by Serina Taylor/Isaac Laut)
Laut adds, the organization is currently looking into getting its roughly $20,000 GST bill cleared, as he says non-profit organizations with net assets more than $200,000 can be exempted from paying GST.
“That would be close to handling that last invoice we have outstanding,” says Laut “So we are definitely exploring that route right now.”
He adds, before the lighting project was realized, the organization didn’t have any assets that were more than the $200,000 minimum set by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), so it was never an option that had previously been explored.
Its also concerned about ongoing expenses such as insurance, says Laut, which could cost the organization as much as $10,000 a year.
The organization inquired about going on Wild Rose School Division’s (WRSD) insurance, but Laut says they weren’t interested.
He adds, they’re current shopping around for a better rate.
Laut acknowledged the tremendous community support from Pidherney’s, for example. He says the company provided the concrete at a 50 per cent discount, and the organization was able to “double dip” on the budget savings as it only paid for 50 per cent of the concrete that actually went into the ground.
Rocky Minor Football Association is scheduled to appear before Clearwater County later in October.
Since its completion in late August, the lights have allowed for two ‘night games’ for the high school team, a bantam game, as well as many practices for the peewee squad.
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