The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship will be able to ensure kids have plenty to do once again this year after being given $10,000 to make up for revenues it won’t be getting from the “Reel Raffle.”
Council agreed Monday night to authorize “one-time” funding in the amount of $5,000 from the economic development portion of the 2005 town budget, as well as another $5,000 from the Rainy River Future Development Corp., to be granted to pay for family entertainment during the bass tournament this July.
“We’re very pleased. We’ve got to send a big thank you to council, the staff, and all the taxpayers in the Town of Fort Frances,” FFCBC chair Doug Cain said yesterday afternoon.
“You’re helping us through a financial crisis,” he added. “What the $10,000 will help us do is run the tournament with everything it had last year—Daytime Land, the Kid-Pro, and everything else.
“We realize it’s one-time funding, and we have to think about how to avoid being in this situation next year,” Cain admitted. “Maybe the circumstances weren’t the best, but this really made us re-evaluate everything we do.
“We’ve had to look at other sources of funding, getting more sponsors, making cutbacks,” he added. “And we still have to come up with a long-term solution to replace the ‘Reel Raffle.’”
Cain explained the $5,000 from the RRFDC, granted under its Local Initiative Program, was to go towards paying for tent pegs at the Sorting Gap Marina where the “big tent” is erected each year.
But since the $12,000 project already was set aside in the town’s 2005 budget, he noted the RRFDC’s money would go to the town—and effectively subsidize the tent peg installation.
This, in turn, would free up $5,000 of the town’s money earmarked in the budget for the tent pegs to instead go to the FFCBC. This is in addition to the $5,000 from the economic development budget.
Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig explained Monday that getting the tent pegs is a health and safety measure because the mooring of the tent was “deemed insufficient.”
Chief Building Official Rick Hallam previously had expressed concerns over the tent possibly collapsing and injuring those underneath it.
McCaig noted the Fort Frances Power Corp. is helping pay for the tent peg project with in-kind services.
“We felt it was a very important economic issue for the town,” Coun. Roy Avis said Monday night, referring to the recommendation from the Administration and Finance executive committee to give the one-time funding.
Coun. Struchan Gilson said he had no problem putting money into infrastructure, like tent pegs and the boat launch at the Sorting Gap Marina, because those improvements “stay with the town forever.”
But he added if anglers in the FFCBC could afford their expensive bass boats and equipment, why couldn’t the bass tourney ask them for more money?
Cain replied the prize board at the FFCBC must match the entry fees they take in, or else the FFCBC has to pay GST on all the prizes (which would be around $11,200 in recent years).
Therefore, it can’t use funds from entry fees to pay for other things, like tent pegs and the boat launch.
Cain added funds raised in the past by the “Reel Raffle” have not subsidized the “angling” part of the bass tourney, but rather towards enhancing the family-oriented aspects of the event.
“I’m not saying I’m opposed to it, but it certainly opens the doors to other events like ‘Fun in the Sun,’” noted Mayor Dan Onichuk.
The bass tourney’s predicament came to light Feb. 28 when Cain appeared before council to request $10,000 in financial assistance from the town in order to ensure kids’ events and family entertainment remain a part of it this year.
The FFCBC found out Feb. 16 that it could not run a “Reel Raffle,” which, after the cost of the lottery licence, prizes, and marketing, generated close to $10,000 last year, which went towards kids’ events, Daytime Land, and family entertainment at the bass tourney.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario had denied its application, ruling the FFCBC wasn’t a charitable organization.
“The ruling was totally unexpected and comes as a complete reversal of what was anticipated,” said Cain, adding the late date of the unsettling decision precluded the possibility of launching an appeal, or restructuring the FFCBC to meet the new interpretation of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario guidelines.
Cain noted the cost to operate the bass tourney exceeded revenues by $16,659 last year, and organizers drew down their “rainy day” reserve fund to cover the deficit.
Thus, it had no money to spare to cover the projected $10,000 in revenue the “Reel Raffle” was supposed to bring in.
Areas that could have been cut due to the lack of $10,000 included Daytime Land, the Kid-Pro tournament, kids’ paddleboat fishing, free entertainment, and site and fish care improvements.
“The effect of reducing expenses by eliminating non-revenue activities would essentially gut the community festival side of the event and disenfranchise our kids,” Cain had said at the time.
“However, this is a double-edged sword, as such reductions would also result in lower revenue from the food court and may cause current sponsors to reconsider their support,” he warned.
Cain said while the FFCBC board must keep thinking about a long-term solution to the loss in “”Reel Raffle” revenues, now also is the time to plan for this year’s tourney.
And a big part of that is volunteers. Cain noted the drive for volunteers will begin in earnest at the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce’s home and leisure show coming up April 29-30 at the Memorial Sports Centre.
Those interested in volunteering should drop by the FFCBC booth and sign up, he noted.
Fort Frances Times
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