Medalta's $74K city grant consumed entirely by insurance costs as site spends $100K a month

The entire $74,000 the City of Medicine Hat gives Medalta each year goes toward insurance alone, as the heritage site spends close to $100,000 a month just to keep its doors open, the city's Public Services Committee heard during Monday's meeting.

Catherine Tingley, managing director of Medalta, told committee members the grant does not stretch beyond that single expense.

"The portion that's given to us now, that $74,000, is to actually cover the insurance costs," Tingley said during Monday's council meeting. "So Medalta, between our properties, pays well over about $140,000 in insurance a year for all of our properties. It's a little scary. But so, thankfully, the city helps us with a portion for the Medalta site."

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The city owns the Medalta property and funds Medalta's operations through what staff described as an agreement housed in a budget envelope called Other Operating Organizations — the same envelope that funds the Medicine Hat Public Library and Shortgrass Library. An interim managing director with Public Services told committee the $74,000 is built into the proposed 2027–28 budget.

The funding arrangement changed roughly two years ago. Previously, the city gave Medalta a larger operating grant and Medalta managed infrastructure on the site. Now the city keeps that infrastructure money and directs it through its own Fleet and Facilities department, while Medalta receives the $74,000 for operations — money that, Tingley said, is absorbed entirely by insurance before anything else is paid.

The scale of the gap between the grant and actual costs emerged when Tingley was asked about the infrastructure split. "Previously we were getting about $100,000 a year in operating, which we were very grateful for," she said during Monday's meeting. "But between wages, insurance, and our utilities, it's about $100,000 just to keep the doors open a month almost at Medalta. So it really, when you, you know, get into hundreds of thousands for roofs and things like that, it really just, yeah, it's hard for us to keep up."

Medalta staff said the city's ongoing work on the building envelope — including a roof replacement on the old factory, window repairs and a new fire suppression system completed in 2025 — has been essential. A roof replacement on the Shaw Centre is planned for the coming year. The organization also draws on the Alberta Heritage Places Protection Program grant, which Tingley said contributes roughly $70,000 per project toward capital work, with those funds flowing back into city-managed projects.

Beyond the building, Medalta reported a busy 2025: more than 2,000 students visited through education programs, more than 10,000 people came through community events and markets, and the site launched an archaeology field school excavating former horse stables on the property. In 2026, the organization spent roughly $80,000 rebuilding its salt soda kilns, which Tingley described as a draw for ceramic artists from around the world.

Space constraints remain a pressure. Melinda Arthur, a staff member with Medalta, said the reception gallery is set up and taken down for different events several times in a single week. Both Arthur and Tingley said the organization is reviewing its use of space and looking for ways to grow revenue and improve long-term sustainability.

Upcoming events at the site include a Heritage Christmas Market on Nov. 27 and 28, a joint exhibition featuring students from Elm Street School and the Medicine Hat Potters Association opening Nov. 12, and an exhibition of work by artist Patricia Lortie set to open March 19, 2027.

The proposed 2027–28 budget, which includes the $74,000 Medalta grant, has not yet been approved by council.