By Leah Murray

City Centre Development Agency submits a new budget

Apr 18, 2017 | 5:44 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB —The City Centre Development Agency (CCDA) presented a revised and more detailed budget to city council Monday night.

The original budget presented in December was rejected by council because it lacked detail needed for a proper breakdown of exactly where the money given to the CCDA by the city and downtown stakeholders went.

In December, the budget showed a near $50,000 surplus. The revised budget shows a surplus of just over $21,000 due to employment vacancies for a significant part of 2016.

As for the Monarch Theatre, the CCDA is projecting revenues will increase by more than $27,000 this year.

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Les Schwab, Chair of the CCDA board said the Monarch had some “bad press” after allegations of workplace harassment surfaced in 2015.

Schwab said with a new operations manager and some changes at the theatre, business appears to be picking up.

While some members of council think the profit increase may be a bit of a reach, Schwab claimed they are seeing solid ticket sales and theatre rentals so far this year.

“I think what this board’s done cleaning up the Monarch with all the changes that have happened inside it, you know people enjoy the experience there,” said Schwab. “We’re getting a tremendous amount of new rentals this year.”

The city had withheld half of the CCDA’s annual operating grant in December until they revised their budget.

The remainder of that grant money will now be made available to the organization.