If the Frank Venables Theatre referendum fails on November 15, it will likely be the shock of the year.
Response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, regional district officials haven’t even been talking about a “no” vote, said community services manager Mark Woods.
“It has never really come up,” he noted.
The question will ask residents if they approve of supporting a bylaw to help cover the annual operating costs of the theatre.
Wendy Newman of the Oliver Community Theatre Society said they are budgeting between $130,000 and $140,000 for 2015.
The average household will pay approximately $18 per year to fund the operating costs. This will cover salaries for a full-time theatre manager as well as part-time technicians and custodians. Other costs include insurance, accounting, maintenance and communications.
Newman said the theatre will earn income from user groups and rentals, but the amount is difficult to forecast.
“With only 12 rental dates recorded for the final year of the old auditorium, the question remains – how many rentals can we attract in 2015? How many will pay a commercial rate? How many will be free for the school district?”
Newman said they are budgeting for income of $100,000 from the RDOS service agreement. The remaining funds would come from earned revenue from rentals and fundraising.
What happens if the referendum fails?
Newman said the theatre society is not in a position to operate the facility without support from the community.
“In our opinion the theatre cannot be run with volunteers,” she pointed out.
She noted the funds to cover a host of administrative and operating costs from insurance to maintenance has to come from somewhere.
Woods said if the electorate votes no, there would be no legal position to carry out a service agreement. But the society could continue its work if it wanted to, he pointed out.
“We would have to re-evaluate (if the referendum failed),” Woods said.
He pointed out there will be a theatre regardless of what happens.
