Residents of Sussex are breathing a sigh of relief after the PotashCorp Civic Centre in the heart of the town has been saved.
The centre was at risk of closing at the end of this month due to a lack of funds. It was a bright day for a town that’s been cloaked in loss.
READ MORE: PotashCorp Civic Centre in Sussex, N.B. faces possible closure
“This place draws us….it is our smile place,” said resident Eleanore Ellis, who uses the walking track inside the facility five days a week.
She says Sussex hasn’t had a lot to smile about since the closure of the Picadilly mine in Janaury 2016, when hundreds of high-paying jobs were lost.
“A lot of people moved out when the mine closed. All those workers moved away,” she said.
The civic centre lost about 25 per cent of its memberships because the workers simply moved away. They also lost about $30,000 a year in tax revenue.
WATCH: PotashCorp Civic Centre in Sussex faces possible closure in September
On Thursday, Environment and Local Government Minister Serge Rouselle announced the centre will be getting more than double the property tax dollars from surrounding service districts starting in 2018, from one cent per $100 assessment to 2.5 cents.
That is about an extra $180,000 dollars a year.
The bailout is for a facility that has been losing money since it was built five years ago.
“I think in the future we need to make sure that there is not only money to build the facility but also to make sure that we have the financial to have an operational budget that makes sense,” said Rouselle.
READ MORE: Sussex to unveil new strategic plan this month
That’s why the added funds come with some conditions. The centre’s financial records need to be made public and the board of directors needs to bring on more people with an expertise in business and finance
“It does not put us in the black totally. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done”, said Bridget Ryan, chair of the board of directors for the centre.
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Rouselle’s decision was not popular with everyone, according to Nelson Ball, who represents the Local Service District of Waterford.
Ball says surrounding service districts didn’t get a vote.
“From the point of view of democracy, people would say you really should have an opportunity to vote,” Ball says.
“But (with) the situation the centre is going through, a whole vote process was probably going to be too late by the time we made a decision.”
But most residents, like Jane Symington, are in support the budget increase.
“I think he made the best decision for all, not just a few but for all,” she said.
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