A pair of community organizations walked away empty handed Monday night after city council turned down their requests for financial assistance.
Representatives from the Prince George Horse Society and the Prince George Agricultural and Historical Association both appeared before council late last year to make the ultimately unsuccessful requests.
During its November presentation to council, the Horse Society - made up of 11 member organizations that host events, run programs and board horses at the Prince George Agriplex - asked for three years clemency from paying its monthly utility bills.
Those bills make up about 25 per cent of its budget, the society said in November. The city charges the society an annual rent of $1,000 and the group pays the utilities, which amounted to $36,284 in 2015. The society was also granted a permissive tax exemption on its 2015 property tax worth $16,572.12.
"We're currently solvent, but we're facing some challenges," society president Melony Forster said in November. Those challenges include a 400-per-cent increase to the wood shavings used for bedding - over the past five years it has gone from $120 to $650 per load - and yearly increases to city utility fees.
In his report to council, community services general manager Rob Whitwham said $1,000 in rent is considered minimal and as part of the agreement with community groups leasing city space is that they pay the rest of their way.
"The community organizations that receive land and buildings are expected to manage the facilities in a prudent manner. Being responsible for any utilities consumed is considered to be part of prudent management of the facilities," Whitwham's report said.
Council ultimately agreed with Whitwham, with Coun. Jillian Merrick saying that writing off those utility fees doesn't give groups incentive to find more sustainable ways of reducing those costs.
"If anything, I would like to see money go to improving the building so that those utility costs are reduced from more of an efficiency perspective rather than just a granting perspective," Merrick said.
Given that the financial model is generally the same for all community groups that operate programs from city-owned facilities, changing the model for one group, even for a limited time, may destabilize the model, Whitwham's report said.
And council kept along that train of thought when it came to looking at the three requests by the Agricultural and Historical Association, which is responsible for planning and putting on the B.C. Northern Exhibition every summer.
In December, board president Alex Huber presented a request for forgiveness of an outstanding city loan to the association, waiving rental fees and providing free transit during the annual BCNE run.
The association still owes $37,033 in principal and interest from a $45,000 loan made in 2010 that was supposed to be paid back last year.
The BCNE rents permanent office space in the Exhibition Sports Centre and uses Kin 1, 2 and 3, the rodeo grounds and inner parking during the fair for $1,000 per year and a flat utility rate of $1,500 per year.
"Administration estimates that the value the association receives from the city for the BCNE set up/take down days and for the days the BCNE is open is $46,683 (based on bylaw rates)," said Whitwham's report.
Free transit, which Huber pointed out was offered during the 2015 Canada Winter Games, would cost the city $7,200 ($1,800 per day in waived fares). But during the Games, the loss was covered by a UNBC student-led Pave the Way campaign that raised enough money to cover the free bus rides for all 18 days.
Despite a passionate plea from Coun. Terri McConnachie - who served as a longtime general manager of the fair - council ultimately decided in a 7-2 vote (Coun. Albert Koehler sided with McConnachie) not to forgive the loan or grant any of the other requests, but to have the association work on a new repayment schedule with the city.
The loan wasn't provided in 2010 to cover operating costs, argued McConnachie, but rather it was to cover a legal settlement that put the fair in crisis. Planning and preparing the annual event, now marketed as a regional event instead of a city exhibition, "doesn't cost the taxpayer one red cent," McConnachie said.
But the loan was made with the expectation that it would be repaid in five years, said other members of council. Only two payments worth a total of $14,000 were made.
"They reduced their deficit and they're heading in the right direction with some of the ideas that have been floated here which I'm sure they've talked about as well," said Coun. Susan Scott. "It can be done. But not at the expense of the city."
