After 30 months of waiting, the Vernon and District Performing Arts Society and Greater Vernon Services still haven’t reached an agreement on subsidies to the society. Michael Cade, the society’s executive director, says the process has been awkward and difficult but admits there hasn’t been an obstructive political agenda – the process just happened that way.The delays are causing shortfalls in maintenance and some of that maintenance could affect public safety said Cade. But, he added, “I really want to stress there is no bad guy here.”The problem has arisen because subsidies were based on a 2002 projection of revenues and operating costs. The society has actually done much better than the 2002 income projection of $166,000, and Cade expects income to top $560,000 this year. Likewise, the 2002 operating cost projection of $240,000 is a fraction of the $750,000 anticipated for 2006. This leaves a much bigger deficit to be filled by subsidies.Cade said the society is unable to pay for two full-time positions and another two full-time positions have become part-time. “We’re not cleaning the building properly and we’re not doing maintenance properly,” said Cade.Councillor Barry Beardsell said the process had taken so long because a report commissioned about the long term operating costs of the building still hadn’t come through. “Unfortunately, it’s been so darned slow,” said Beardsell. He also said it comes at a time when there are so many other things related to arts and culture on the agenda. Beardsell said he thought the people at the Performing Arts Society, “have done a fantastic job.”
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