THUNDER BAY — Starting next year, youth rep-league sports teams will be required to pay a fee to use city sports fields under a proposal submitted to Thunder Bay city council.
The fee would help offset some of the city's maintenance costs.
City administration recommends a fee of $550 per team if the playing season is 16 weeks or longer.
The fee would be $300 per team for a shorter season.
On a per-player basis, the cost would range between $15 and $31.
The fees for youth rep-team leagues would be equivalent to the fees applied to adult organized leagues.
At present, there are two youth rep-team leagues, both of which play soccer.
New sports field user fees were first proposed in the 2019 budget process, but were postponed by council after sports organizations objected to the fee amounts and the timing.
For now, no fees are being recommended for youth house league teams. A report from administration, however, says further planning is required to develop "a consistent outdoor sport field user fee" for these teams.
According to the report, it currently costs the city about $215,000 a year to prepare and maintain fields. Up to now, 23 per cent of these costs are recovered by existing fees.
"Since these area organized leagues that require registration, versus activities that are free and open to the public, a cost recovery of 30-50 per cent of operating costs is the suggest approach to base team user fees on," the report states.
It's estimated that the new fees for youth rep-league teams will bring the cost recovery to 29 per cent next year.
Nearly 6,400 players on 416 adult and youth teams used the city's outdoor sports fields last year.
They include:
- two adult soccer house leagues
- one adult baseball house league
- five adult softball house leagues
- five youth soccer house leagues
- two youth soccer rep leagues
- one youth football house league
- two youth baseball house leagues
- one youth softball house league
