The City of Port Alberni will be raising its user fees for city-owned facilities for the first time in 10 years.
During a five-hour-long committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18, members of Port Alberni city council spent some time going over the sixth draft of a bylaw that would increase fees and admission for city facilities. The last time this bylaw was updated was in 2015.
Willa Thorpe, the city's director of parks, recreation and culture, said that city staff used six comparative communities (Campbell River, Courtenay, Comox, Esquimalt, Oak Bay and Powell River) to set the rates for this year.
Councillor Charles Mealey was concerned to see the rates for seniors going up "exponentially," with a more than $200 annual increase for admissions to swimming, skating, the fitness studio or Glenwood Centre.
“It is pricing them out,” said Mealey.
Councillor Cindy Solda agreed.
“There are a lot of seniors out there who could never afford that rate,” she said. “They can’t afford their rent, never mind going to the pool.”
Councillor Todd Patola, meanwhile, argued that the reason for the large increase is because fees have not been raised in 10 years.
“When the fees do get raised to an appropriate level, it seems like a huge increase,” he said. “It’s like going from analog to digital."
Despite this, the committee recommended making fees for seniors the same as the fees for children and youth. This will result in an increase of less than $100 annually.
“It’s still a very significant increase,” said Mayor Sharie Minions. “I think we got to this point by not increasing fees, and we do need to increase the fees. With the current proposal, seniors are disproportionately being increased compared with the other groups.”
However, the committee also recommending raising the age classification for "senior" from 55 to 65.
“I think anyone who is younger than that and living on a [retirement] pension is in a better financial position than many in our community,” Minions said.
The committee also recommended removing a special exemption for the Echo Sunshine Club, which would have given the club a "scaled" approach to new fees over four years. This is because councillors did not want to give preference to any specific group.
However, the committee asked city staff to explore entering a lease agreement with the Sunshine Club, similar to their lease agreement with the BCHL's Alberni Valley Bulldogs, which gives the club a special rate to rent the Alberni Valley Multiplex.
“They are our largest renter and they contribute significant dollars to the city, just like the Bulldogs do at the multiplex," explained Minions. "We would be challenged without the Sunshine Club renting this facility.”
The bylaw has not been adopted yet, as council can only make recommendations at committee of the whole meetings. The bylaw will be brought to a future regular meeting of council for consideration.
