At the latest Estevan City Council meeting, they rejected a request from Estevan Minor Baseball to cancel $33,000 in loans. Those were used to improve the baseball diamonds in a few areas over the past couple of years.
The first loan was for $30,000 for Turf Tenders, a southeast lawn care company, which saw a 50 per cent cost-sharing agreement with the city. EMB agreed to pay back $15,000 over the course of five years with annual $3,000 payments, beginning in 2024.
The second loan was for the cost of shale for the diamonds, which saw $21,000 paid to Chamney construction. That amount was agreed to be paid back also in $3,000 annual intervals over the next seven years. Both loans are interest-free.
EMB President Mel Murray states that he was hoping the good it does for the community would push it to the forefront of the city's thoughts.
"Last year, we asked the city for some shale for the diamonds, and they rejected it. So we said, 'Well, would you lend us the money so we could buy it?', which they did. We were hoping this year that the city would forgive us that loan, since it's for the kids of Estevan, so they could play the game of baseball down there."
The council explained that the topic of forgiving those loans had come up during the budget deliberations, but they ultimately decided against it in order to keep the city's budget on target.
Murray says he wishes the council would do more for the sport.
"We're a little disappointed, but we'll live with it. We can't do anything about it anyway."
The lack of a cancellation will tighten the finances of EMB a bit, with Murray saying they're still looking at an improvement.
"All the money we raised from provincials and tournaments we host goes back into the diamonds. Like we buy equipment with it, we need baseballs every year, we need bats, gloves, and stuff like that. Whatever leftover goes into the diamonds, like this year, we're putting batting cages up."
EMB is planning for multiple tournaments this year, including some provincials happening in Estevan.