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City moves forward on new user fees for sports fields

The increase in fees would apply to youth rep-league teams and cost between $300 and $550 per team.
Chapple Ball Field

THUNDER BAY - Certain sports teams could be expected to pay a little extra when using city sports fields as Thunder Bay city council moves forward with implementing new user fees.

During Monday night’s meeting, city council passed a recommendation presented by city administration to implement a $550 fee per team for youth rep-league sports teams, which will be applied in the 2020 operating budget. The vote was 7-4 in favour.

The fee applies to youth rep-league teams with a season longer than 16 weeks. Teams with a shorter season would see a $300 per team fee. This would mean a cost per player of $15 for a $300 team fee and $22 to $31 per player for a $550 team fee.

"When we put together our proposed fee structure it was based on the duration of the season,” said Cory Halvorsen, manager of Parks and Open Spaces with the city of Thunder Bay. “That is the simplest way to point out the difference between a rep-team and a house-league team.”

Prior to this recommendation, fees were only applied to adult teams and leagues but not youth, and these new fees will be equivalent to fees applied to those adult leagues. At present, there are two youth rep-team leagues, both of which play soccer.

According to city administration, outdoor sports fields require staff and resources to maintain and costs approximately $215,000 annually.

The addition of new user fees will bring in an estimated $14,300 in additional revenue, or a recovery of 2 per cent in annual operating costs.

New user fees were brought forward during the 2019 budget process but were deferred to this year due to concerns brought forward by sports teams and the amounts being proposed.

Coun. Peng You agreed with the increase, saying it is the best answer at the moment.

“I don’t think people will argue with increasing the fees here or there,” he said. “I think the increase of user fees is a normal practice, but also increases the quality.”

Coun. Rebecca Johnson, who voted against the motion along with Coun. Albert Aiello, Coun. Kristen Oliver, and Mayor Bill Mauro, recalled a time when teams would do their own maintenance on fields and she asked if that is something that could be looked into again.

“Years ago the community took care of everything,” she said. “Maybe if we say to the community if they want to use these without being charged, they have to take responsibility for it? Is there a way to say to the community that if you want to do these things, you will have to pay for it, if not, you will have to do it yourselves?”

“We would consider additional arrangements,” Halvoresen said of organizations maintaining sports fields. “At this time we don’t have anyone offering to expand their level of service. We are doing a lot of that work with our current workforce so we wouldn’t want to displace that work.”

Mauro said if some users are facing a fee increase, they may choose to not participate in certain activities.

“I’m not going to support this,” he said. “This is completely inequitable. That’s just not fair.”

The fee increased will be included in the upcoming proposed 2020 operating budget, which will be presented to city council later this year.



Doug Diaczuk

About the Author: Doug Diaczuk

Doug Diaczuk is a reporter and award-winning author from Thunder Bay. He has a master’s degree in English from Lakehead University
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