Spending on St. Albert’s 150th anniversary celebrations is being trimmed by more than $100,000 and organizers will have to cut more if provincial grants don’t come through as hoped.
Organizers of Rendezvous 2011 recently did a thorough budget review and cut more than $100,000 in spending, said committee co-chair Carol Watamaniuk. So far there are no plans to cancel any events because the trimming will be spread across areas that event patrons won’t notice, she said.
The spending cuts are part of an ongoing effort to monitor and adjust the budget of the year-long celebrations that started in January.
“It’s not been done before so when you’re putting together a budget it’s a very difficult task,” said Watamaniuk, a city councillor until retiring last year. “These are taxpayers’ dollars and they are not going to be wasted.”
St. Albert’s 150th anniversary passed in January. There are more than a dozen events planned throughout the year, including a gala that kicked things off in January, a snow festival held on Family Day in February and a large-scale family picnic in August.
The celebrations were originally expected to cost about $1.6 million. The city has contributed $500,000 and approved an additional $56,000 for the organizers to lease space. The federal government provided $114,000 but organizers had anticipated $200,000.
The sponsorship committee raised $400,000 in cash and in-kind donations from local businesses. This far exceeds the original $250,000 goal but falls $100,000 short of the revised goal set last fall.
And organizers are still awaiting results of applications for two provincial grants.
“I guess it’s time we saw something from the provincial government. We’re the oldest non-fortified community in the province and so far we haven’t received anything,” Watamaniuk said.
The committee has applied for two community initiatives grants that would total $150,000 and expects to hear the status of one of them within the next three weeks, Watamaniuk said.
“If we don’t get provincial money we will definitely have to cut further,” she said.
A lot of the cuts will be achieved by spending less on “stuff,” like souvenirs, banners and candy to give away, said Coun. Roger Lemieux, who is city council’s liaison to the anniversary committee.
Organizers have also abandoned the idea of hosting the RCMP musical ride and attempting a Guinness record for the world’s largest picnic.
The events held so far have been very successful, said Lemieux, who is still anticipating a successful year.
“I think at the end of the year people will look back and say, ‘you know what, that was one really good celebration,’” he said.
