[SUMMERSIDE, PE] – City officials are looking to a five-year strategic plan for the Summerside Community Services and Recreation Department to help reduce financial losses at Credit Union Place.
Earlier this week, city council released the plan that covers all aspects of recreation and community services within the city. A big part of that service is Credit Union Place.
Over the years, Credit Union Place, particularly the pool and the arena, has been losing money, but department director Bobby Dunn says that's changing for the better and will continue to improve.
“The report addresses that,” Dunn says. “It talks about looking for some innovative and sustainable ways to make the operation more sustainable long term. Those things are going be getting looked at. I think having a focus will help also with a strategic plan.”
He says reevaluating the operation is another key element.
“Are there some overlaps in areas?” he asks. “Looking at all of our workload and saying is there more capacity in those workloads to help? We’ve been fine tuning our budget and looking at things and ways that we can cut back and trim but we have the fantastic infrastructure that needs to maintained and sustained long term. You can’t neglect that. So, those things need to be addressed.”
Dunn says pools and arenas across Canada lose money and it’s up to each community to determine how much loss is acceptable.
