The National Sports Centre (NSC) has had its annual Government grant increased for the 2013-14 fiscal year, Minister of Community and Cultural Development Wayne Scott announced yesterday.The Minister revealed that $1.25 million dollars has been allocated to the NSC to go towards operational expenses for the upcoming fiscal year.But he challenged the NSC’s Board of Trustees to derive any shortfall through “enhanced fundraising or revenue creation schemes”.“If you look at the operating costs of the National Sports Centre it’s a bit high,” the Minister told The Royal Gazette. “The National Sports Centre as a whole is a good asset for Bermuda but needs to be sustainable so we can get the benefit out of it locally and internationally so I’ve challenged them (Trustees) to look at other opportunities for revenue. Whether that’s sponsorship or endorsement type programmes let’s figure out how to make it happen.”The Minister added that $955,000 of the grant will go towards the new Aquatics Centre to ensure the facility is completed ahead of July’s Island Games which Bermuda is hosting.“There are timing equipment and other equipment that needs to be in place before the Island Games,” he said. “The facility as a whole needs to be ready to host the Island Games which is just a couple of months away. These are items that were already in progress and need to be completed.”Responding to the Minister’s announcement, chairman of the NSC Board of Trustees Sean Tucker said the increased grant will go a “long way” towards sustaining operations at the Devonshire facility.“The Board is grateful for the increased grant as it would go a long way towards sustaining the operations of the National Sports Centre in particular the new Aquatics Centre,” he said. “We’ve always been aware that the costs of our operations would increase once the Aquatic Centre came online and this would go a long way towards assisting us in maintaining it.”As for the challenge Minister Scott threw out to the NSC Trustees to explore other means of generating revenue, Tucker said: “That’s always been the case, that’s the way our model has been designed and he has certainly challenged us with that and we’ll do our best to ensure we can live up to that.“We are a quango so what we don’t get from Government we have to raise on our own and we are working towards that. And hopefully the appetite towards supporting a facility like this would be such that we can achieve those goals.”Meanwhile, Minister Scott further revealed that the Department of Youth, Sports and Recreation budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year has been slashed by 3.2 percent.Some $11,661, 852 has been allocated to the department for the upcoming fiscal year compared to the $12,052,848 it received from Government for the previous fiscal year.The department’s key funding amounts to include grants to host major sporting events such as the Island Games and the ICC Pepsi World Cricket League (WCL) tournament to be held here in April/May.The various national sports governing bodies have yet to be allocated their grants for the upcoming fiscal year, Director of Youth, Sports and Recreation Norbert Simons confirmed.“No decision has been made until the budget has officially been passed by the House and then we will sit down with the Minister and Permanent Secretary and determine how the grants will be distributed,” he said.