It wasn’t the prettiest of debates Tuesday night, but Timmins city council succeeded in getting the 2018 budget under two per cent as planned.

City council passed an expenditure budget increase of 1.97 per cent—or $1,377,869 in new spending.

But it was a proposed addition to look at options to expand and modernize the McIntyre Arena that riled up debate.

Councillor Joe Campbell was looking to add the $200-thousand dollar option, citing the new opportunities that could come along with it like more conferences, concerts and a larger hockey arena with expanded seating.

He adds the money to expand the arena would be acquired through fundraising initiatives like building naming rights, provincial and/or federal funding and money generated from having a major junior franchise become an anchor tenant.

Campbell estimates the costs involved would be around $11.9-million dollars.

By comparison, North Bay needed to complete a season ticket drive with a minimum 2,000 people needed and a multi-million dollar expansion of the Memorial Gardens arena in 2013 to attract the Brampton Battalion OHL franchise to town.

With the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies QMJHL franchise just two and a half hours away, the QMJHL circuit would be a little more realistic for Timmins. Though long distance travel isn’t necessarily a barrier for junior, just take a look at the Western Hockey League on that one.

Anyway, attracting a major junior franchise is another story for another day.

Mayor Steve Black would go on to say later that this wouldn’t be a “build it and they will come” scenario to get a team, but would be a “build to accomodate” scenario if—hypothetically—a QMJHL team came to Timmins with a proposal to renovate the arena to relocate.

Campbell addressed parking as well, saying there could be potential for more by acquiring the Timmins Chamber of Commerce building across the street.

He says the high occupancy rates could ensure operating costs are offset.

Councillor Mike Doody was appreciative of the presentation, saying it’s “a good start” and that Campbell has given council something to work on.

There was a bit of push back from other councillors, though there is agreement that the future of The Mac needs to be looked at somewhere down the road.

To sum it up, the proposal fell victim to the “right place, wrong time” scenario.

One example of this came from Councillor Pat Bamford, who suggested it wouldn’t be wise to look at two major projects at the same time—alluding to the proposed Aquatic Centre.

Councillor Veronica Farrell suggested revisiting this for the 2019 budget with the new council, when the city could be in a better position financially.

But Campbell wasn’t too thrilled by the push back to keep the 2018 increase under two per cent.

“I guess I was speaking for nothing for half the night here because if you read the fundraising proposal, nothing’s going ahead,” he says, adding it’s a realistic proposal based on trends seen with other junior teams.

“This magic number of two per cent is exactly what it is, it’s a variable because you don’t know what’s going to happen next year with respect to some of those budget items.”

He later would say to have the discussion for the sake of having the increase under two per cent is “ridiculous.”

Rinaldo, clearly fired up from Campbell’s comments, fired back by cementing her support for the arena’s future.

“I have the best view of the McIntyre Arena in the city…it’s a gem in our community,” she said, “So please don’t belittle the fact that I don’t understand the value of this project.”

She then called out Campbell for voting against the 2017 budget because it wasn’t good enough.

Rinaldo also took Campbell to ask for his recent proposal to freeze new city spending in 2018 until they get a report on the city’s economic future.

CLICK HERE to see the video from the meeting, under Items 4I and 6A.

It stayed personal for another few minutes but at the end of everything, council declined the $200-thousand dollar option with a 5-4 vote.

Voting in favour was Campbell and Councillors Rick Dubeau, Mike Doody and Walter Wawrzaszek.

Later in the meeting, council passed the expenditure budget by a 7-0 vote.

Councillors Campbell and Dubeau abstained from that particular vote.

Filed under: Local News