At Monday’s council meeting, representatives from the O’Keefe Ranch came calling for an additional $1.8 million in capital funding. If they don’t receive the funding, so the story goes, the ranch will close by the end of the year. What a difference five months makes. Back in December ranch representatives appeared before the North Okanagan Regional District predicting a slight surplus for 2007 and saying that the grant from local government would be lower this than in past year. Now suddenly the sky is falling in and it’s all doom and gloom for the ranch. The ranch is now predicting a budget deficit of nearly $80,000. Most of that new deficit comes from the addition of a marketing position and doubling the amount of dough spent on advertising.
About one-fifth of ranch revenue, or $103,000, comes from local governments, $50,000 is given by the B.C. government and another $211,000 is expected from ticket sales this year. According to the ranch, the support they’re receiving from local and provincial governments is “insufficient.” To bridge the funding gap and ensure the long-term viability of the site, ranch staff want to build an RV park at a cost to taxpayers of $750,000.
Hopefully council will deny this request. While it’s important to preserve our heritage, specifically the O’Keefe Ranch, the city should not be compelled to join with the ranch in a business venture such as an RV park. Barkerville, a designated heritage site (something the O’Keefe is not) earns roughly double in ticket sales what the O’Keefe Ranch does. But Barkerville also benefits from $1.3 million in funds from the provincial government, the majority of which, pays for staff salaries. The central B.C. tourist attraction also has a trust account for capital projects that is kept at a minimum level of $2 million. Barkerville was founded in 1862; the O’Keefe Ranch was started in 1867. The main difference between the two is one is rolling in provincial grants while the other is left to beg at the municipal level.
The O’Keefe Ranch is one of the most important heritage sites in the Okanagan. They shouldn’t have to build an RV park to earn enough money to preserve the buildings. Other levels of government need to step in because the preservation of the ranch benefits not only Greater Vernon, but every Canadian and every foreign visitor. The best scenario would be for the City of Vernon to sell the ranch for $1 to the province and let them take care of it. That is unlikely to happen. What needs to happen though is the ranch must do everything possible to become a heritage site and tap into the same dollars Barkerville is getting. If they can’t, there’s a good chance this piece of our history will eventually decay and be lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment