Cheaper ice rates in Chatham-Kent doesn't necessarily mean more people will use the arenas.
That's according to a new staff report coming to council on Monday. It stems from a council approved recommendation from the Arena Business Plan in August 2019 that requested Chatham-Kent arenas hourly prime ice rental rate be reduced for a trial period starting in September 2019.
The Arena Business Plan was created to help revamp local arenas after reports that arena usage was drastically down across Chatham-Kent.
The primary reason for the trial ice rental rate reduction was to address concerns from all ice user groups that the previous ice rates were too high.
"They believed that reducing ice rates to competitive levels with neighbouring municipalities would stop ice users from leaving the municipality’s facilities and increase local registration," stated the report.
Rates for prime ice time went from $204 to $173 plus HST while non-prime and minor hourly ice rental rates dropped from $163 to $152.
According to the staff report, a total of 11,810 hours were booked at nine of Chatham-Kent's arenas during the first year trial period of cheaper ice between September 1, 2019, and March 15, 2020. That's compared to 11,822 hours booked between September 1, 2018, and March 14, 2019, for a decline of 12 booked hours.
Wallaceburg Memorial Arena was looked at separately because of the late opening caused by the renovation project.
Between October 1, 2019, and March 15, 2020, 1,380 hours were booked in Wallaceburg. That's down from the 1,406 hours booked during the same time frame the season before, totalling a decline of 26 hours.
The numbers in the report reflect time periods before COVID-19 related closures took place.
The one area that saw an increase was recreation programs and school bookings, which were not affected by ice rate reductions. According to the report, in 2019-2020 there was an increase of 174 hours utilized for recreation programs and school ice bookings.
In an effort to increase arena usage, staff also utilized social media and the municipality's website to advertise ice availability and discounted ice.
The reduction in 2019-2020 ice usage and ice rate reductions resulted in a $175,712 revenue deficit for all ten arenas in Chatham-Kent.
