IT was the third time lucky for the local non-profit group that wants to buy the Shames Mountain ski facility.
Turned down twice by city council – first for $200,000 and then for $91,000 – it decided last night to give My Mountain Co-op a $15,000 subsidy.
But the money can only be used to operate the facility and cannot be part of the capital amount the co-op needs to raise to buy the facility from the Shames Mountain Ski Corporation.
Council also decided it would give the co-op a $15,000 subsidy this year and will decide every year thereafter about providing a sum of money. The amount will be determined each year.
This year's contribution will come out of the city's surplus for this year.
Members of the co-op asked for the ski hill to be considered as a recreational facility last week during the public portion of a council committee of the whole meeting.
The $15,000 arose out of three recommendations were were made by council in private and then approved last night:
1. That Terrace provide the co-op with $15,000 from this year's surplus for the ski facility's 2011/2012 operating fund.
2. To budget for an amount in the city's 2012 budget and to do so each year. The amount will be decided yearly.
3. To continue providing the co-op with free city office space in the Kwinitsa building until Dec. 2012.
Despite former concern about giving money to a private interest group, Mayor Dave Pernarowski, who voted against the first $200,000 request and then the one for $91,000, said the key difference here is that the money is not going help buy the ski facility.
"That's the biggest point. To find a way to assist in a way that we thought would be the most appropriate and the most beneficial for city council," said Mayor Dave Pernarowski during last night's council meeting. "And that's putting a portion of money toward the operations of the ski hill instead of the purchase price of the mountain."
"I think that this level of assistance is appropriate, it's affordable, and very helpful for Shames Mountain," said Pernarowski.
NOTE; This is an amended version of a story first posted the morning of Sept. 13, 2011. That story indicated the city would provide $15,000 to the My Mountain Co-op each year. While $15,000 is the amount given this year, the actual amount will be decided upon each budget year.