I myself am often accused of being too much of a pessimist. Lonegunmen though really has gotten out of bed on the wrong side. Or maybe he has an agenda in dissing the Ice Bowl. Is he involved with the Lockerbie rink perhaps?

I am also a D&G taxpayer. I am pleased to see the Ice Bowl improving in recent years. It will be a fantastic facility if the plans for the dedicated curling rink go through, and the people I have dealt with at the rink are positive and go-ahead.

I for one am pleased to stand up for the Ice Bowl, and wish all involved in its future every success.

I'm never going to critise any project where public money is being spent on curling, but I'm glad I'm no longer a D&G tax payer.  A £1.9 milion defecit over 5 years is a very hefty subsidy for one facility.  On the face of it it certainly doesn't sound to me like a facility that's managing it's finances very well, but I'll be honest and say I don't know a lot about it and I'm basing this on lonegunmans figures.

I've no doubt the ice and facilities are improving, but surely the facility has to make a better effort at paying it's way.  If this was a private sector facility it would have closed long ago.

I have no problem with the subsidies for sport it is the level that I am concerned with and the way it is all centred in one place.  The mis-managment of these funds and the fact that it is at the cost of other venues in the region. 

D&G council are forcasting a deficit this year of many million of pounds and had to take large amounts of money from reserves last year to balance the books.  If the council was in surplus then by all means spend it on sport and curling.  You can use the debate over the Olympics in London as a similar situation, why should lottery funded projects in Scotland be cut to pay for nice new shin stadiums in London? 

Lonegunman you have got a bite again.

The council has had to dip into reserves to balance the books, because of the Scottish Government freeze on the Council Tax.  The financial settlement received from Edinburgh was lower than expected when 3 year budgets were put in place (a 3 year rolling budget process is in place, which gets altered every year), coupled with the freeze that I've mentioned obviously reserves had to be dipped into.  If councils ran at a surplus year on year, there would be public outcry because services would not be getting the full funding, and it's not like there is shareholders or partners who are wanting their share of profits, as it stands there is some services that have had to be cut, so that the reserves aren't depleted anymore, these are not front line services, because the council has a statutory responsibility to provide certain things.

Your point on centring the money in one place is a valid point, but Dumfries is the region's "capital", so it's hardly surprising that money is spent there.  But have you forgotten that D&G Council also contributed to the upgrade of Lockerbie last year?  I think this was £30 or £40k through Area Committe monies, so the money is being shared about - the public money is being shared about.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/8209188.stm

Decision went through yesterday at the Resources Committee

This figure includes a refurb of the existing icehall aswell as plant replacement.