By Kevin J. Sabo
For the Advance
Paintearth County council reviewed the Valley Ski Hill Strategic Business Plan, which was recently completed and submitted. The board that oversees the ski hill and both the County of Paintearth and County of Flagstaff have been looking into the long-term viability of the ski hill because of slope erosion and ageing equipment.
The ski hill board, which recently commissioned a feasibility study which was released as part of the business case, identified three conclusions from the study.
The first option is the ceasing of operations, is not one council wants to entertain.
“I think it would be a shame if we didn’t have this facility,” said Coun. Diane Elliott during the Nov. 6 regular meeting. “It needs to be treated more like a business.”
Another option from the study is to maint the ain status quo. While it would work in the short-term, the option would do nothing to maintain the long-term viability of the hill.
“The hill needs to be repaired,” said Coun. George Glazier.
The third, and most costly option would be for Flagstaff and Paintearth Counties to invest in the ski hill. The ski hill operations board has looked into eight different fund-raising strategies and has made an ask of $300,000 from both counties to conduct the needed slope repairs.
“We’re in it with Flagstaff for this one,” said CAO Michael Simpson.
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The options presented to Paintearth County council include having a representative from council on the Ski Hill board, building a capital reserve of about $200,000 over the next 20 years with regular funding of $15,000 per year from each of the counties to pay for needed upgrades, and building a five per cent year over year fee increase to skiing fees to help keep pace with inflation are all strategies that have been presented.
The Valley Ski Hill is one of eight such facilities located in Central Alberta. The Valley Ski Hill annual general meeting is on Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. With winter beginning to set in in the region, the window of opportunity to complete the repairs is closed for the current year, however, with more erosion happening everyone involved is on the clock, and all parties will be revisiting the requirements of the hill to remain viable in the near future.