Like many businesses in the community the Cold Lake Chamber of Commerce had to adjust their annual budget heading into 2016 to reflect the current economy.
“It is a completely different atmosphere,” said Trevor Benoit, President of the local Chamber of Commerce. “I think as a business person you have to plan for the worst. There is a lot of skepticism out in the economy. Our goals and what we are doing is set around that.”
The Chamber of Commerce approved a budget of $190,000 for 2016, which is approximately $27,000 less than their previous budget. In 2015 the Chamber set a budget of $217,000 and managed to generate $227,000 in revenue leaving a surplus of $10,000. This year they have budgeted in a surplus of $35,000 in order to help prepare for the worst.
“If anything I think it will be a more prosperous year for what we budgeted for, but it would be silly not to understand some of the turmoil and the ups and downs out there and not plan for those,” said Benoit.
The change reflects the state of the region, which is in the midst of an economic downturn thanks to the extremely low price of oil. As of March 17, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sat at $40.15 per barrel, which was over $60 less than the benchmark price was in 2014.
With the oil industry struggling through the harsh realities of rock bottom oil prices and the economy in a downturn, Benoit expects local businesses to rely on the Chamber of Commerce even more than in the past.
“Most businesses understand that the Chamber of Commerce is working for them. It is going to be one of the last memberships they are going to cancel, because, especially in the slow times the Chamber creates networking events,” said Benoit.
The goal of the Chamber of Commerce heading into 2016 is to ensure they provide businesses in the community with as many opportunities as possible to meet, network and assists owners in running their businesses as usual.
“We want to hold more events, more networking and more open houses to get people's names out there and try to get businesses in touch with other businesses and businesses in touch with clients to stimulate the economy and help people make those contacts and connections,” said Benoit.
Several events have already been set for 2016, some of which include: an EARN event with guest speaker Jeff Mowat on April 6, the Home and Leisure Trade Show from April 8-10, the Tools, Trends and Strategies for Small Business on June 8 and the Business of the Year Awards on October 14.
“Cold Lake and the business in Cold Lake seem to always adapt, change and find a way to be successful and create new opportunities,” said Benoit.
“(Businesses) in Cold Lake are familiar with this, they understand that it is cyclical, things go up and things go down. Although they have had to adjust to a new normal, for most business in Cold Lake it is still business as usual.”
