Erin officials came to their neighbour for help on Tuesday night but were turned away empty handed.
Town councillors and representatives of East Wellington Community Services (EWCS) were seeking help from Guelph-Eramosa council to cover a $104,000 funding shortfall for the food bank portion of Erin’s arena expansion.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to be here tonight,” Erin Mayor Rod Finnie said. He explained social services are not supposed to be a municipal responsibility, but items like the food bank have fallen on municipalities by default.
Finnie said new safety requirements for block construction drove the price of the 750 square foot food bank space from $126,000 to $230,000 – or 83% over budget.
President David Robart-Morgan said EWCS provides seamless services to both Erin and Guelph-Eramosa and doesn’t consider the two separately.
He noted there is “a constant flow” of food between the food banks in?Erin and Rockwood and said the new building in?Erin will also benefit the satellite food bank in Rockwood.
“Folks, we need your help,” Robart-Morgan implored.
Erin councillor John Brennan said the town was shocked by the cost overrun for the food bank, but councillors could not bring themselves to scrap the project, especially considering the town received a $662,166 grant for the arena expansion from the provincial and federal governments.
“So here we are, hat in hand, asking you to help us out with these additional costs,” Brennan said, adding town officials are not asking for a specific amount.
He noted the town would proceed with the food bank space regardless, and said the Rockwood food bank, which up until June this year served 81 families and 208 individuals, of which 102 or 49% were children, will benefit from the Erin facility.
Guelph-Eramosa councillor John Scott wondered about the new operating costs of the new Erin building, but Robart-Morgan said those figures are unknown.
“This is not a strong business case,” Guelph-Eramosa councillor Doug Breen said, noting the delegation was asking for help with a project that came in way over budget without any idea of the operating costs.
Breen said he is desperately trying to find a reason to support the request, but he is concerned about setting a precedent.
Mayor Chris White said while he appreciates Erin’s dilemma, he finds it difficult to justify spending Guelph-Eramosa taxpayers’ money on “bricks and mortar” for a building outside the municipality.
“We don’t have some of the basics in place,” White said of infrastructure in his township. “You’ve got a wonderful facility there … we’re extremely jealous of it.”
The rest of council agreed with White, who said that does not mean there isn’t some way to help out other than infrastructure costs that would set a precedent.
“We’ve got a lot of things to work together on,” White said, adding the township would like more information from EWCS, but council would be willing to set up a meeting between the three parties to discuss other possible funding arrangements.
