New West Theatre group receives partial Yates Theatre rental waiver despite operating surplus

Society spokesperson Derek Stevenson told council back in September that the one-time request was made because the group hasn’t had access to the Yates for the last year, and renovations to the building won’t be completed until December.

“The reality of working a year in our community without our home, the Yates Theatre, was particularly taxing on us as an organization. Of course, we’re excited to be back in there, and to be opening our show here in September. But there’s obviously challenges. We have a staff of one full-time person within our organization with delays to our building and a season to plan and a lot of commitments we have to have both to artists to the community, to the provincial government for our funding, just required a lot of extra work, a lot of extra costs in last year’s [budget]…and we continue to deal with that.”

However, at Monday’s meeting, councillors also noted that once everything is completed at the theatre, the society won’t have to pay for lighting and sound systems as they did before.

Of the $23,499.31 the Westminster Theatre Society will receive, $10,983 will go towards the society’s shortfall from the last fiscal year. $11,616.31 will also go to cover the cost of theatre rental for the 2018 production “Million Dollar Quartet.” And another $900 will go towards La Cite des Prairies rental for “Night Life 2.0”; an alternate venue necessary due to inability to access the 180-seat Sterndale BennettTheatre within the Yates building.

“I’m just sort of struggling a little bit,” said Councillor Jeff Carlson. “A huge portion of it is to cover the costs of a show (Million Dollar Quartet) that sold out. So, I’m curious how that was impacted by the construction of the Yates.”

City Manager Bramwell Strain told Carlson, “We think it’s fair to look at this and say, we understand there’s been a disruption to your operations and there’s an impact there. Secondly, you are now going to be in a position with a fully renovated theatre and nothing but upside and opportunity going forward.”

Councillor Rob Miyashiro also questioned why the group was asking for money when it already had a large surplus and whether the New West Theatre Society had a surplus at the time of their ask in September.

“The reason why we have to have an operating surplus as an organization is we often don’t receive ticket sales funding until after our show is done,” explained Stevenson. “But we have to pay all of our performers, our actors. Everyone involved in the show has to be paid in advance.”

“What is your accumulated earnings?” asked Miyashiro. “Didn’t you guys have a cash balance that was pretty substantial?”

Stevenson agreed that the society did have $250,000 in an endowment fund, held with the Lethbridge Community Foundation.

“Should that be shown on your financials as part of your accumulated earnings?” asked Miyashiro.

“I don’t have my financials right in front of me,” said Stevenson.

Strain then explained the society’s financial position.

“They had internally restricted funds that their board had restricted, and then they had unrestricted funds of approximately $100,000. So, the majority of their net assets is restricted, and it’s used between the internal restrictions and the endowment fund. The unrestricted is what allows the cash flow to flow through to allow productions and everything to occur on a seasonal basis.”

According to the Theatre group’s financial statement submitted to council at the Sept. 17 meeting, as of March 31, 2018 the group had net assets of $379,574 down from $400,557 in 2017. The group also had cash resources of $91,623 which was actually up from $70,012 in 2017. http://meetings.lethbridge.ca/sirepub/cache/2/pa5vn34dihqfodspmfqdzojy/21503010302018110423226.PDF

Councillor Carlson also wondered why the group wasn’t referred to budget deliberations in November and was told that administration was tasked by council to come up with a solution by Oct. 29.

After debate, a resolution was unanimously passed by council granting the society the $23,499.31 as a partial rental waiver for the 2018-2019 season.

by Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

New West Theatre group receives partial Yates Theatre rental waiver despite operating surplus

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