Duane Hicks
Most user fees in Fort Frances are expected to go up 2.6 percent in the new year, but some at the local sportsplex still need to be reviewed.
During a special committee of the whole meeting Monday, mayor and council agreed to take a look at both the family and corporate pool/fitness centre membership rates.
Coun. Ken Perry said the family rate should be better defined because some people may be taking advantage of the lower rates.
Community Services manager Jason Kabel noted that under the family rate, the town currently charges full price for one adult (parent/spouse), then offers a 16.7 percent discount to a second adult (parent/spouse), as well as a 13.7 percent discount to students and 15.7 percent discount to children.
To date, five families take advantage of this discount.
In most cases, it is a single parent with one child or student.
But Coun. Perry feels the family membership should be a set fee, paid up front, covering the whole family.
“A family is a family,” he stressed. “It’s mom and dad, or mom and a couple of kids.
“If it’s only mom and one child, pay . . . for an adult and a child.
“If you’ve got a family of five or six or seven children, you could get a break there by having a family fee of whatever you decide on,” Coun. Perry added.
He noted one possible abuse of the current system is if a couple with no children get a family membership—the first spouse pays full but the second one gets a 16.7 percent discount and that’s not fair.
After all, a couple without children does not have the expenses one with children does.
“We’re not trying to cost people more money here,” Coun. Perry stressed. “We’re just trying to make it fair and equitable to everyone concerned.
“I don’t think it is right now.”
Mayor Roy Avis said he feels a single parent would need more help paying for their child’s membership than two parents, so any new family rate would have to take that into account.
“Let’s face it, we want more kids to go and use the facility, more families to go out,” the mayor noted.
“Let’s not price ourselves out of the market here.”
“I think you might be able to get away from defining it by just saying, ‘This is our family rate. If it’s cheaper for you to do individually, do it that way,’” suggested Coun. Wendy Brunetta.
“In our current climate, we have a lot of parents not working, and that’s where we fall into single-parent families almost because the father had to move away and work,” she noted.
“I think it’s important to say, ‘Here is our family, regardless of how many children, how many adults. This is our rate.’
“If it’s cheaper for you to do it individually, then do it that way,” Coun. Brunetta added.
Kabel will review rates charged elsewhere, such as Dryden and Kenora, and report back to council.
Corporate rates
Town administration also will take a look at corporate rates offered in the region, and whether or not to continue to offer such memberships here.
Corporate memberships initially were offered to attract more users at the sportsplex by offering a 15-20 percent discount depending on the number of employees with gym memberships.
Three organizations currently have corporate memberships—Kenora & Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services, Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board, and Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc., comprising 35 employee members in total.
Coun. Perry said he would like to do away with corporate memberships since they only serve to give a cost break to people who already have money.
Mayor Avis agreed, noting a corporate rate isn’t fair to all users of the facility.
Coun. Brunetta, on the other hand, said she agrees with corporate memberships.
“As the wellness committee chairperson in my office, we really encourage people to participate in things like this,” she remarked.
“I think charging people a 20 percent discount when you have 10 or more still generates more money than the 10 people who might go because they have to pay the 20 percent more,” she reasoned.
Kabel said the town has to put on one of two hats: to be a business, and provide a service to the community at a value, or to be an advocate for fitness?
Coun. Paul Ryan said the relationship between user fees and taxation must be considered.
“We’re subsidizing that arena to the tune of about $560,000 per year of tax revenue to run the place. This is above these fees,” he noted.
“We don’t own that place until 2017,” Coun. Ryan added. “So people paying taxes are paying what we’re under in operating expenses plus a loan.
“If we keep adding to the tax to run the place to give better fees here, it’s not fair to the person who’s never set foot in the place,” he argued.
“There’s a lot of people who never set foot in the arena but their taxes are paying for it.
“We’ve got to think both ways here before we start to give too many breaks,” Coun. Ryan reiterated.
While the new user fee schedule is expected to be passed at council’s next meeting Dec. 15, the new sportsplex rates do not come into effect until June 1.
In related news, the 2.6 percent user fee increase will not apply to museum admissions.
Kabel said it is much easier for museum staff to charge a flat $4 per adult than have to charge $4 and some change, and then have to make change.
Currently, the museum admission fee is charged for five months of the year (May long weekend through Thanksgiving), with free-will donations taken during the other seven months.
But Coun. Perry said he felt admissions shouldn’t be waived during those months.
