Quinte ballet school gets financial support from city

Story and Photos by John R. Moodie

The Quinte Ballet School was caught off guard when executive director Marilyn Lawrie took a phone call from the bank last Tuesday afternoon.

“It was a surprise. Not the kind that you like,” said Lawrie.

The bank informed Lawrie that they would be putting a stop to the school’s line of credit by midnight.

“There was no indication until I got the phone call that the line of credit was going to be capped,” said Lawrie.

Last Tuesday the school was told by the bank a hold would be put on its line of credit. By Friday the ballet school approached the city to act as guarantor for its line credit.

Monday night Belleville city council weighed in on acting as guarantor to the school. In an emotional debate, council settled on supporting the ballet school’s request.

In exchange, council directed the ballet school to provide bi-monthly financial reports. The city agreed that it would act as guarantor to the school until the end of the year so that the school can get it affairs in order.

Though the news came as a shock, the bank told Lawrie it was capping the school’s line of credit due to a significant decline in enrollment and its inability to raise funds.

Enrollment at the school dropped from 17 students to 37 students from the previous year. Lawrie said the drop-off in attendance was due to a sudden personnel move that has since been fixed. The school’s primary source of revenue comes mostly from tuition, said Lawrie.

Faced with the bad news the ballet school board called a snap meeting.

At the meeting the board agreed it would step up its fundraising but agreed it would have to find someone to guarantee its line of credit with the bank.

School treasurer Boyd Kalnay said the bank suggested the school go to the city for help. By Friday the board decided to approach the city.

The situation was brought to the attention of Director of Recreation, Culture and Community Services, Mark Fluhrer, who cut his vacation short to prepare a report in order to get the issue on the agenda for Belleville city council by Monday.

“We had an urgency to bring it forward,” said Fluhrer.

On Saturday, 75 students from across Canada showed up at the school ready to take part in its summer program.

“We can’t even afford to cover the cost of that school. They had already paid the tuition. What are we going do,” said Kalnay.

The board decided that it would move forward with its summer school program.

“It was going to continue regardless, but it would be a much tighter situation,” said Lawrie.

On Monday when the item was brought up for debate some councilors said they didn’t have enough information to make an informed decision.

“I don’t know if they have the ability to repay those loans. They tell me that they do but I need to see financial statements. I need to see something that tells me that they have the ability to repay this,” said Belleville city councilor Taso Christopher, “I am just going to say as a stalwart of the taxpayer I can not say yes to this application.”

Councilor, Tom Lafferty reminded council that its responsibility was to the taxpayers.

“We are held responsible, its not are money were using it’s the taxpayers money. We have to do our due diligence to insure that that’s protected,” said Lafferty.

Councilor Jodie Jenkins questioned if council should be considering the request when council had rejected a similar proposal by the Quinte Symphony last year.

Midway through the discussion, Councilor Pat Culhane called for the issue to be tabled for a later date.

“It is difficult to be exactly clear. I will withdraw my tabling motion if it is no assistance to you,” said Culhane.

In response to councilor Culhane’s motion councilor Bev Denyes questioned if the ballet school would be able to make due until the next council meeting tabled for August.

Kalnay then spoke to council and said that the school plans to move forward with its summer program despite being tight on cash, but would try to manage until the next council meeting.

Following Kalnay’s statement councilor Culhane withdrew her motion to table the issue.

“My own impression is that we go forward today,” said Culhane.

Lawrie then appealed to council to support the proposal.

“We are at a pivotal point at the Quinte Ballet School of Canada and we are respectively hoping and asking that council support this,” said Lawrie.

Lafferty then reversed his decision and decided to support the motion.

“Because of circumstances and unfortunately you got caught short as well. Then I am going to change my vote and vote to support this,” said Lafferty, and added, “Please don’t disappoint.”

Councilor Jack Miller told council Bellville needs the Quinte ballet school.

“This is a school with a fantastic reputation across the county… It’s a jewel that people don’t realize exists in our community,” said Miller, “I want our council to do something that is tangible to the arts.”

Councilor Denyes also spoke of the importance of the school to the community.

“The ballet school is truly is a feather in cap for the city of Belleville,” said Denyes.

On that note city council voted in favor of guaranteeing the school’s line of credit with the bank.

Lawrie later said, “Ultimately there should be no cost to the taxpayers. This is simply guaranteeing a line of credit.”

“On a public side your still dealing with the taxpayers money so it has to have zero risk to it,” said Christopher.

“It is a cultural phenomena that a city like Belleville has a school of that caliber. It puts us on a world stage,” said Culhane.

Lafferty, reflecting on the meeting, said council took a leap of faith in supporting the request.

“It is a very emotional issue. It’s not all just based on dollar and cents,” said Lafferty.

 

 

Note: this is a updated version of an earlier version of the story correcting Boyd to Kalnay.