
October 10, 2024 · 0 Comments
By JAMES MATTHEWS
Current financial difficulties hit everybody hard, even sports clubs trying to make ends meet.
The Mono Tennis Club asked town council when it met on Oct. 8 to forgive just the interest portion that’s set to be applied to loan repayments on money the club kicked in for the new tennis courts.
Patti Powell, the tennis club’s president, said the critical issues for the club include its loan interest rate, sponsorship signs, a $30 Mono court pass, public hours, and lighting on the new tennis courts.
Powell said the club is committed to paying its share of the capital costs for the new wheelchair-accessible tennis courts that opened this year. That contribution rings in at $4,262 per year for 15 years.
“Quite a huge undertaking for a small club with several disadvantages in our path to complete this task,” Powell said.
The club paid no interest for the first two years of the loan. But those rates are due to increase to prime, which will be difficult for the club. The current prime rate is at 6.45 per cent, she said. That means an additional $3,574 in interest alone.
With the principal, that means the club will have to pony up a payment of $7,837 in the first year. That’s why Powell said the club asks council to make the balance of the loan free of interest.
“Our goal in making this request is both to aid the club in meeting its obligations and to ensure its future with the residents of the Town of Mono,” she said.
One of the important ways the club generates funds is its sponsorship program. Most clubs are able to thank those sponsors by way of banners erected around the courts on fencing.
Powell asked council to allow the club to install such signs on the inside of court fencing facing the courts’ interiors.
“In some ways we compete with those clubs (permitted to use signs) for sponsors,” she said. “All we are asking here is to be on a level playing field with clubs.”
The Mono court pass and public hours didn’t drive many members away this year, but Powell said it is a threat to future success. Members have even suggested the club fold and they become town racquet club members for the $30.
She said tennis club members ask why their fees are going toward the costs of maintenance and operating junior programs while racquet players do not.
“The club does not generate any surplus funds and, in fact, we must run a number of fundraising events each year to make our ends meet,” she said. “So any membership drop would be significant.”
Going from two courts to four is good for the sport and players, but it means the club’s maintenance costs will at least double.
“The ongoing and future financing of the club is always top of our concern,” she said.
Other clubs nearby don’t have to contend with funding losses from such things as a $30 municipal yearly pass to the courts. If you’re not a member of the local club, you can’t access the courts.
“[The] Mono Tennis Club has never restricted membership and encourages all Mono residents to join,” she said. “Our membership dues are just the user fees necessary to maintain the facility and junior programs.”
As a remedy, Powell suggested the courts at the Lynn Gibson Island Lake tennis facility, which does not have a club, be given the dual use of tennis and pickleball and be designated completely for public use.
“This change might also encourage more use of the Lynn Gibson courts, which are very underused at the moment,” she said.
Mayor John Creelman said residents shouldn’t have to join a club to use a public facility.
That underuse at the Lynn Gibson means the lighting there is being underutilized, she said. Island Lake residents don’t allow the lights to be on past 9 p.m. and the lights at the Mono Club typically aren’t turned on until about 9 p.m.
Powell suggested the Lynn Gibson lighting be moved to Mono, which would be a savings on buying lights for the two new courts in town.
Deputy Mayor Fred Nix asked if it would be possible to have the recreation department look into any consequences of moving the lighting from one court to another. He also asked that staff investigate what effect the deferral of the club’s interest payment would have in the municipal budget.
Kim Heaton, the town’s recreation director, said the treasurer has been handling the loan agreement with the club so staff there would be best to speak about interest deferrals.
She said she’ll speak with municipal engineers about relocating lighting. And she’d also like to address with council the usage at Lynn Gibson Park’s courts.
Mike Dunmore, the town’s CAO, said moving lights from one court to another never ends up being as cheap as you think.
“I would suggest council give Lynn Gibson Park a chance,” Dunmore said. “It’s one year old.”
If interest picks up there to the extent that a pickleball club starts, he said those members will inevitably approach council with a request that lighting be returned to Lynn Gibson Park.
Councillor Ralph Manktelow said participation in the loan was something the club negotiated with the town.
“You made an agreement,” he said. “I don’t know why you’re trying to get out of this agreement now. It’s not a big deal. You’ve got an annual adult (membership) rate which is $110. That’s a fire sale rate.”
“That’s a fire sale rate?” Powell said.
Yes, said Manktelow. He added that the local rowing club charges a $425 membership rate per person.
“And nobody questions it,” Manktelow said. “And the rowing club never comes to us asking for money. Once in 20 years, I think, they asked for a development charge to be waived.”
He said it’s the tennis club’s responsibility to pay its own way.
Interest rates were at two per cent when the loan was negotiated before the COVID-19 pandemic. Costs and interest rates have skyrocketed since then.
“We’re thinking about the future of the club and who is going to take on this debt when the executive we have now steps down and new younger people step up,” Powell said.
“You’re asking the townspeople of Mono to take it over rather than yourselves and I don’t think that’s fair,” Manktelow said.
“If we raised our fees to $400, we would lose all our members,” Powell said.