Users of the Town of Barrhead’s recreational facilities will have to pay more come July 1.
That was the decision council made after they voted unanimously to approve policy 72-002 (Recreation Facility/Program Rental and Rates) during its Feb. 28 meeting.
The policy includes all of the town’s recreation facilities, minus the new aquatic centre. A separate policy for the aquatic centre is expected to come before council within the month. Council also decided any future changes in recreation fee schedules with the town’s fiscal year, which starts Jan. 1.
The policy was brought forward for consideration, after councillors instructed administration to conduct an extensive fee review of all recreation facilities following a discussion over summer ice rates during their Jan. 17 meeting.
Mayor Gerry St. Pierre opened the floor for discussion, saying even before council officially asked for the review, they knew a prospective increase was imminent.
“There has been little, if any, changes to the user fees for a number of years,” he said. “Some might say the adjustments of the fees are a big jump, but if you take it over the years where there has been no change, the increases really are not that much.”
Depending on the individual facility, time of day, and usage, the cost of using a facility, in full or in part, remained unchanged, increased, or, in one case, decreased. The only decrease was the summer miniature golf fee, which will now be waived, to a 900 per cent increase for chair rentals (from $0.50 to $5 each for a weekend). On average, most facilities’ fees increased by about 15 per cent.
Coun. Ryan Warehime agreed, saying a review and increases were necessary, but wondered if Pembina Hills Public Schools (PHPS) had been consulted.
“We have an agreement, with the schools, and although the rate is increasing by $6 an hour (for the Agrena from $35 to $41), will that be something that is going to work with Pembina Hills budget?”
Shallon Touet, Barrhead’s parks and recreation director, said he was waiting for council to approve the fee schedule, but now that it had been approved he would be doing so.
Warehime added, he would hate to see the town lose bookings if PHPS has already budgeted at the old rate.
“I think we have to accommodate the schools, because when they use the ice it is really an offbeat time of day and they are really our only user groups during that time,” he said.
As part of the new Agrena ice fee schedule, it distinguishes between local and non-local users for adult user rates. Non-local adults users will be charged $177 hourly compared to $168 for local users.
Warehime questioned who would be considered local.
“For example, if the Linaria Barons wanted to book our ice surface, what category would they fall under? Technically it falls under Westlock County, but I imagine a good portion of the players live in the County of Barrhead.”
“To me local means those who live within the town and county,” Touet responded, adding in the above example he would classify them as local users. “What I would consider outside is Westlock, who approached us during the curling championships for ice. Unfortunately, no ice was available, but if there had been, they would have been charged the non-local rate.”
He added the policy does grant the department some discretion.
“We are not going to lose a rental because of a 50 feet kind of thing,” Touet said.
St. Pierre asked if administration knew how much of an impact the increases would have to the operational deficits of the various facilities and how they compared to neighbouring communities.
Touet didn’t know how much impact the new fee schedule would have in reducing the operational deficits, but said the changes would put them in line with those of surrounding communities.
“The 15 to 17 per cent on average increase that we are looking at would put us almost in line with everyone else,” he said, adding the ice rates are still slightly below Westlock’s as they increased their fee by five per cent on Jan. 1.
Coun. Roy Ulmer said while he understood the necessity of increasing fees due to escalating costs, he was concerned it might be unaffordable for some.
“I don’t want to see teams fall out because they can’t afford it,” he said.
St. Pierre agreed, adding it is a difficult balance.
“We have to establish fees that maximize our cost recovery for all these very expensive facilities without discouraging their use. It’s definitely a fine line that we have to tread, but I think we have done it here,” he said.
Touet said he has also had informal discussions with the majority of the user groups, giving them advance warning increases were coming.
“They’ve all known for a minimum of four months that the rates would be going up. I just couldn’t tell them by how much or when because the final decision rests with council, but I did ballpark the figure at about 15 per cent, knowing that is where we had to get to and what the going rates were,” he said, adding now that it’s official he would be scheduling meetings with them again.
