Vernon recreation revenues still not back to pre-pandemic levels

Jan 25, 2022 | 4:10 PM

The City of Vernon’s recreation revenues in the final months of 2021 were still below pre-pandemic levels.

Recreation Services presented a review of operations in the fourth quarter to city council on Monday. The report showed that revenue from aquatics was $188,116, programs revenue was $109,962 and booking revenues was $400,136. These made up a total revenue of $698,264 for the fourth quarter of 2021.

(Image credit City of Vernon)

Comparatively, the total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $866,727, while the revenue from the same period in 2020 was $431,952.

The report noted that booking revenues were higher in 2021 than in 2019 ($367,058), though $36,967 of the revenue in 2021 was from Interior Health, which rented the Creekside Conference Centre for the COVID-19 vaccination clinic. The revenues from all other sources were lower in 2021 than in 2019 though were all higher than those from 2020.

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Leah Walker, manager of customer service for recreation, said the department was able to offer programs and services that were at or near capacity, and facilities were being utilized as much as they possibly could be within Provincial Health Orders and WorkSafe BC direction.

“Recreation Services programs and facilities continued to be safe spaces for user groups and patrons to utilize amidst the global pandemic,” Walker said in a report to council.

The report also detailed specific programs and participation that contributed to the revenues in the fourth quarter of 2021.

At the Vernon Aquatic Centre there were 1,057 Learn to Swim participants; 26,102 user visits for drop-in swim and fitness; and 68 Aqua Awareness participants.

The report outlined child and youth recreation program participation, saying that there were 192 participants in Playschool; 24 kids in Active After School programs; 18 kids in Babysitting/Home Safe classes, and 46 kids in Winter Break Camps. In youth sports, there were 1,192 user visits for drop in sports, 160 participants in Sports Skills programs and 228 kids in skating lessons over the fall and winter.

In adult sports programs, there were 1,368 drop-in users, 58 teams in the volleyball league, and 2,530 indoor rink user visits for shinny and public skates.

(Image credit: City of Vernon)

There were also 1,573 participants in Fitness Land programs and 1,846 in Fitness Water classes. There were no Fitness Weights programs offered in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Recreation Services also noted there were 1,081 program registrations in the last quarter.

The booking revenues came from a variety of sources. Recreation Services says 3,698 hours were booked for meeting spaces, including the 2,184 hours booked by Interior Health for their vaccination clinic. There were also 2,078 gymnasium hours booked and 2,951 arena hours booked in the last quarter of 2021.

The report was accepted by council for information.

by Liam Verster

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