While the 2004 user fee schedule went through first and second readings last night, with the likelihood council will pass it March 31, an amendment will mean local swim clubs won’t be seeing the 100 percent hike they thought they were.
Council decided to make the amendment last night after Dawnn Taylor of the Cyclone Swim Club brought attention to the fact her club and the Fort Frances Aquanauts would see their pool rental fees increase from $30 to $60 an hour if council passed the user fee schedule as is.
“One hundred percent. That’s a lot. I couldn’t find any other pool activity that saw that much of an increase,” Taylor remarked. “I don’t know why there’s this much of an increase, but I find it unacceptable.”
Taylor noted she and the club understand the town’s budget situation, and want to help reduce the deficit, but that a 100 percent user fee hike in one year was too much to handle.
She added while the hike from $30 to $60 an hour wouldn’t “drive the club into the drink,” it might force some parents with multiple children in swimming or other recreational activities to pull their children out.
And Taylor stressed swimming, as well as other activities at the Memorial Sports Centre, not only keep kids fit, but off the streets.
Taylor compared the proposed fees here ($60/hour with no lifeguard and $92/hour with two guards) with those elsewhere in the region, and found rates range from $44 (with no lifeguard) in Kenora to $48 in Dryden (with one guard) and $50 in Atikokan (with one guard).
Community Services manager George Bell replied the $60 price tag was in line because council gave his department the directive to revise the user fees with the intention of recovering 70 percent of the Memorial Sports Centre’s operating costs.
In addition, at $30/hour, the swim team rental rates here have been the lowest in the province, Bell noted. The average rental rate in Ontario is $78/hour.
Coun. Struchan Gilson echoed other groups using the sports centre saw increases averaging 25 percent this year, but that the swim clubs saw more because their rates have been “artificially low” for some time.
Coun. Tannis Drysdale asked Taylor if $45/hour (a 50 percent increase) would an acceptable rate for this year, with a second increase of 50 percent to be added on top of that next year, to which Taylor replied “yes.”
Council agreed to make two amendments to the user fee schedule last night—one, to phase in the increase in the swim clubs’ pool rental rates over two years, and a second to eliminate the toy library membership fee (the latter was an error in the user fee schedule).
While the user fee schedule was slated to be passed as a bylaw last night, council only gave it first and second reading with the intention to pass it at a special meeting March 31.
They did this to see how the amendments affected the user fee schedule, as well as take a look at details of the schedule and ensure it had no errors.
Also at last night’s meeting, council made first and second reading of a bylaw to amend a zoning bylaw for property at 1305 Mill Rd., which will be used for a new Calvary Tabernacle Church.
The bylaw is expected to be passed in the near future, but was not read a third time and passed last night because the Planning and Development division requested the town hold off as it finalizes a few details.
Also last night, council:
•accepted an invitation from Dennis Brown, chair of the Rainycrest Home for the Aged board of management, to discuss financial operating issues at a meeting March 31;
•nominated Coun. Struchan Gilson for a seat on the Northwestern Ontario District Health Council;
•referred a request from the Rainy River District School Board for the provision of a handicapped parking stall at J.W. Walker School to the Planning and Development executive committee for a recommendation;
•received a letter of concern from citizens regarding the proposed Kiwanis skate park; and
•received a letter from local MPP Howard Hampton’s office regarding the Jackfish Bay sewer line proposed by Koochiching County across the river in Minnesota.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
